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THE  LIFE 
OF    HENRY    GEOROE 


"  .  .  .  .  the  Lord  called  Samuel :  and  lie  answered, 
Here  am  I. 

And  he  ran  unto  Eli,  and  said,  Here  am  I ;  for  thou 
calledst  me.  And  he  said,  I  called  not,  lie  down  again. 
And  he  went  and  lay  doAvn. 

And  the  Lord  called  yet  again,  Samuel.  And  Samuel 
arose  and  went  to  Eli,  and  said,  Here  am  I ;  for  thou 
didst  call  me.  And  he  answered,  I  called  not,  my  son  ; 
lie  down  again. 

Now  Samuel  did  not  yet  know  the  Lord,  neither  was 
the  word  of  the  Lord  yet  revealed  unto  him. 

And  the  Lord  called  Samuel  again  the  third  time. 
And  he  arose  and  went  to  Eli,  and  said.  Here  am  I ;  for 
thou  didst  call  me.  And  Eli  perceived  that  the  Lord 
had  called  the  child. 

Therefore  Eli  said  unto  Samuel,  Go,  lie  down :  and  it 
shall  be,  if  he  call  thee,  that  thou  shalt  say,  Speak, 
Lord ;  for  thy  servant  heareth.  So  Samuel  went  and 
lay  down  in  his  place. 

And  the  Lord  came,  and  stood,  and  called  as  at  other 
times,  Samuel,  Samuel.  Then  Samuel  answered,  Speak  ; 
for  thy  servant  heareth. 

And  the  Lord  said  to  Samuel,  Behold,  I  will  do  a 
thing  in  Israel,  at  which  both  the  ears  of  every  one  that 
heareth  it  shall  tingle." 

First  Book  of  Samuel. 


^,    • 


THE  LIFE 


OP 


HENRY  GEORGE 


BY  HIS  SON 

HENRY  GEORGE,  JR. 


NEW  YORK 
DOUBLEDAY  AND  McCLURE  COMPANY 

1900 


Copyright,  1900,  by 
Henry  George,  Jr. 


to  TO  ALL  WHO  STRIVE  FOR 

E  THE   REIGN   OF   JUSTICE 


27 


4  XO'i 


For  it  is  not  for  knowledge  to  enlighten  a  soul  that  is 
dark  of  itself ;  nor  to  make  a  blind  man  to  see.  Her 
business  is  not  to  find  a  man  eyes,  but  to  guide,  govern 
and  direct  his  steps,  provided  he  have  sound  feet,  and 
straight  legs  to  go  upon.  Knowledge  is  an  excellent 
drug,  but  no  drug  has  virtue  enough  to  preserve  itself 
from  corruption  and  decay,  if  the  vessel  be  tainted  and 
impure  wherein  it  is  put  to  keep. 

Montaigne. 


First  Period. 

FORMATION  OF  THE  CHARACTER. 

Second  Period. 

FORMULATION    OF   THE    PHILOSOPHY. 

Third  Period. 

PROPAGATION    OF    THE    PHILOSOPHY. 


His  form  and  cause  conjoined,  preaching  to  stones, 
Would  make  them  capable.  —  Hamlet. 


CONTENTS. 


FIRST  PEEIOD. 

CHAPTER   I. 
Birth  and  Early  Training  (1839-1855) 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
Before  the  Mast  (1855-1856) 19 

CHAPTER   III. 
Learns  to  Set  Type  (1856-1857) 40 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Works  His  Passage  to  California  (1858) 53 

CHAPTER  V. 
At  the  Frazer  River  Gold  Fields  (1858) 69 

*  CHAPTER  VI. 
Tossed  About  by  Fortune  (1858-1859) 83 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK  VII. 
Six  Printers  and  a  N'ewspaper  (1860-1861) 99 

CHAPTEE   VIIL 
Courtship  and  Eunaway  Marriage  (1861) 121 

CHAPTEE   IX. 
Suffers  Extreme  Privation  (1861-1865) 135 

CHAPTEE   X. 
Begins  Writing  and  Talking  (1865-1866) 154 

CHAPTEE  XI. 
Managing  Editor  and  Correspondent  (1866-1869)    173 


^ 


SECOND  PERIOD. 

CHAPTEE    I. 
Commences  the  Great  Inquiry  (1869) 191 

CHAPTEE   II. 
Strife  and  the  Natural  Order  (1869-1871) 204 

CHAPTEE  III. 

Answers  the  Eiddle  of  the  Sphinx  (1871) 219 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  ''San  Francisco  Evening  Post"  (1871-1875) .   236 

CHAPTER   V. 
Domestic  Life    (1873-1876) 250 

CHAPTER  VI. 
First  Set  Political  Speech  (1876-1877^ 262 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Lecture  at  the  University  of  California  (1877)    274 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
A  Fourth  of  July  Oration  (1877) 282 

CHAPTER   IX. 

"Progress  and  Poverty"  Begun  (1877-1878) 289 

CHAPTER   X. 

"Progress  and  Poverty"  Finished  (1878-1879) ...   301 


¥ 


THIED  PEEIOD. 

CHAPTER    I. 

'Progress  and  Poverty"  Published  (1879-1880).    315 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   II. 
Commencing  the  New  York  Career  (1880-1881) .   335 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Irish  Land  League  Movement  (1881-1882) . .    358 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Starting    the    Revolution    in    Great    Britain 
(1882) 378 

CHAPTER   V. 
Kindling  the  Fire  at  Home  (1882-1883) 400 

CHAPTER  VI. 
British  Lecture  Campaign   (1884) 419 

CHAPTER  VIL 

"Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  (1884-1886) ...   442 

CHAPTER   VIIL 
Candidate  for  Mayor  of  New  York  (1886) 459 

CHAPTER   IX. 

"The  Standard"  and  the  Anti-Poverty  Society 
(1886-1887)    482 

CHAPTER   X. 
Progress  Through  Dissensions  (1887-1889) 504 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE  XI. 
Australia  and  Around  the  World  (1890) 522 

CHAPTEE  XII. 
Personal  and  Domestic  Matters  (1891-1897) ....    543 

CHAPTEE  XIII. 
The  Last  Books  (1891-1896) 563 

CHAPTEE  XIV. 
The  Last  Campaign  (1897) 584 

Index 613 


Now  I  saw  in  my  dream  that  they  went  on,  and 
Greatheart  before  them. 

Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress." 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


House  where  Heney  George  was  born,  east  side 
OF  Tenth  Street^  south  of  Pine,  Philadelphia      3 

Henry  George  at  about  five.  From  daguerreo- 
type TAKEN  in  Philadelphia 6 

From  daguerreotype  taken  about  the  time  that 
Henry  George,  less  than  fourteen,  left  school 
and  went  to   work 12 

From  daguerreotype  taken  March  31,  1855,  just 
before  going   to   sea 24 

Henry  George's  motpier  and  sister  Jennie.  From 
daguerreotype  taken  about  1850 36 

Henry  George  when  learning  to  set  type  in 
Philadelphia.     From  daguerreotype,  1857....     42 

Henry  George's  father,  Richard  Samuel  Henry 
George.      From   daguerreotype   taken   in   the 

MIDDLE    fifties     62 

Annie  C.  Fox  (Mrs.  George)  at  seventeen.    From 

DAGUERREOTYPE  TAKEN  IN  SaN  FrANCISCO,  1860 .  .  106 

From  daguerreotype  taken  in  1865,  showing  Mr. 
George  at  26,  just  after  job  printing  office 
experience  150 

From  photograph  taken  in  1871,  showing  Mr. 
George  at  32,  when  he  wrote  "Our  land  and 
Land   Policy.'' 220 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

From    photograph    taken    in     San    Francisco 

SHORTLY  AFTER  WRITING  "PROGRESS  AND  PoVERTY"    303 

From  London  photograph  taken  during  lecture 
tour  of  1883-84 424 

Mrs.  George.     From  photograph  taken  in  1898. .   514 

Work-room  in  the  old  house  at  Fort  Hamilton 
where  much  of  "The  Science  of  Political 
Economy"   was   written 558 

Exterior  of  old  mansion  at  Fort  Hamilton^ 
WHICH  was  the  first  George  residence  there, 

BEFORE   THE    ShORE   EoAD   IMPROVEMENTS 588 

Last  photograph  taken,  October,  1897 603 


FIRST   PERIOD 
FORMATION  OF  THE  CHARACTER 


yfC^r 


Reduced  facsimile  of  page  of  original  manuscript  of 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  Book  II,  Chap.  III. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH   AND   EARLY   TRAINING. 

1839-1855.  To  the  16th  Year. 

HENRY  GEORGE  was  born  on  September  2,  1839/ 
in  a  little  two  story  and  attic  brick  house,  yet  stand- 
ing in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  in  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
on  Tenth  Street,  south  of  Pine,  not  half  a  mile  from  the 
old  State  House  where  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  signed. 

His  father's  blood  was  English,  with  a  tradition  of 
Welsh;  his  mother's  blood  English  and  Scottish.  In 
the  main  he  came  of  middle-class  stock.  The  only  persons 
among  his  ancestors  who  achieved  any  distinction  were  his 
grandfathers;  on  his  mother's  side,  John  Vallance,  a  na- 
tive of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  who  became  an  engraver  of 
repute  in  this  country  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic 
and  whose  name  may  be  seen  on  some  of  the  commissions 
signed  by  President  Washington;  and  on  his  father's  side, 
Richard  George,  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  who  was  one 
of  the  well-known  shipmasters  of  Philadelphia  when  that 
city  was  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  new  world. 

Captain  George  married  Mary  Reid,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  to  them  were  born  three  children,  the  youngest  of 

1  John  Stuart  Mill  was  then  in  his  thirty-fourth  year  and 
Adam  Smith  had  been  forty-nine  years  dead. 


2  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1855 

whom,  Richard  Samuel  Henry,  in  New  Brunswick,  New 
Jersey,  in  1798.  This  Eichard  Samuel  Henry  George 
became  the  father  of  Henry  George,  the  subject  of  the 
present  volume.  In  1873,  on  the  day  preceding  his  sev- 
enty-fifth natal  anniversar}',  he  wrote  his  son  Henry  a 
letter  of  reminiscences,  of  which  the  following  serves  to 
show  the  man  and  the  early  conditions  in  Philadelphia : 

"I  have  seen  all  the  Presidents,  from  Washington  down 
to  the  present,  Grant — that  is,  I  cannot  say  I  saw  Wash- 
ington, who  died  in  December,  1799,  but  I  think,  al- 
though an  infant,  that  I  saw  his  sham  funeral.     .     .     . 

''I  go  back  to  1810,  during  Jefferson's  long  embargo. 
Then  Front  Street,  Philadelphia,  was  what  Chestnut 
Street  is  now — the  fashionable  thoroughfare  of  the  city. 
All  the  principal  merchants  lived  on  Front  Street  and 
on  Water  Street  above  South.  Below  South  lived  mostly 
sea  captains,  all  handy  to  business. 

"Your  grandfather  had  two  ships,  the  Medora  and 
Burdo  Packet,  and  during  the  embargo  and  the  war  with 
England  they  were  housed  in;  and  from  the  navy  yard 
down  to  the  Point  House,  now  called  Greenwich,  all  the 
principal  ships  in  port  were  housed  in  and  hauled  up  on 
the  mud,  with  noses  touching  the  bank. 

''Although  times  were  hard,  I  did  not  feel  them.  I 
had  a  pleasant,  happy  home,  let  me  tell  you.  The  first 
thing  to  be  done  was  to  provide  for  winter.  Wood  was 
burned  for  cooking  and  heating.  Your  grandfather 
would  purchase  a  sloop-load  of  wood,  so  that  I  had  a 
good  time  helping  to  throw  it  down  cellar.  We  would 
have  enough  to  last  all  winter  and  late  into  the  spring. 
Then  there  was  a  supply  of  beef  to  corn  and  two  or  three 
hogs  to  cut  up.  That  was  a  grand  time !  We  had  a 
smokehouse  at  one  corner  of  the  yard,  and  when  father 
had  cut  up  the  hogs  we  would  have  a  number  of  haras  to 
smoke  and  cure.  I  do  not  taste  such  now,  nor  ever  will 
again.  At  hog  time  mother  made  all  sorts  of  good  things 
— scrapel,  sausage  and  all  that  hog  could  do  for  man. 
And  didn't  I  go  in  for  it  all  with  the  rest  of  the  boys. 


House  where  Henry  George  was  born, 
east  side  of  Tenth  Street,  south  of  Pine,  Philadelphia. 


To  16th  year]  HENRY  GEOEGE'S  FATHER  3 

for  father  had  four  prenticed  boys  and  two  girls  in  the 
kitchen,  all  in  good  tune  and  happy.  We  had  all  sorts 
of  songs  and  wonderful  stories,  both  of  the  sea  and  of 
the  land. 

"It  was  at  this  time  (I  am  sorry  I  have  no  dates)  that 
my  father  arrived  at  Almond  Street  wharf  from  France, 
to  which  he  had  gone  with  a  flag  of  truce,  carrying  out 
a  lot  of  passengers  and  bringing  back  a  lot.  Well,  it  was 
Sunday  morning,  about  light,  when  I  was  waked  up  by 
mother.  I  asked  what  was  the  matter.  She  said  that 
pop  had  arrived  and  that  he  had  on  board  of  the  ship 
General  Moreau  and  family  from  France;^  and  she 
wanted  to  get  some  fresh  provisions  for  their  breakfast. 
So  I  took  on  board  lots  of  things — nice  fresh  milk  and 
cream,  butter,  nice  bread,  chickens,  etc. — for  the  general 
and  his  family.  I  tell  you  it  was  hard  work  getting  on 
board,  the  crowd  was  so  dense.  On  Almond  Street  from 
Second  clear  down  to  the  wharf  was  a  line  of  private  car- 
riages with  invitations  of  hospitality.  The  boys  crowded 
me  hard,  and  one  or  two  fellows  I  had  to  fight  before  I 
could  pass. 

^'Going  so  often  to  the  ship,  I  found  I  was  as  much 
noticed  as  the  general  himself.  It  gave  me  a  big  lift 
among  the  downtown-gang.  I  was  made  captain  of  a 
company  and  had  to  fight  the  Mead  Alley  and  Catherine 
Street  boys  every  Saturday  afternoon.  Many  bricks  I 
got  on  the  head  while  leading  my  men  (or  boys)  into 
battle.     .     .     . 

"One  fight  I  had  built  me  right  up,  and  afterwards  I 
was  A  No.  1  among  the  boys,  and  cock  of  the  walk.  I 
went  on  the  principle  of  do  nothing  that  you  are  ashamed 
of  and  let  no  living  man  impose  on  you. 

"In  my  youth  I  could  swim  like  a  duck  and  skate  well. 
And  I  was  considered  a  good  sailor.  I  could  handle  a 
boat  equal  to  anybody.  I  got  a  good  amount  of  praise, 
both  on  the  Delaware  and  the  Mississippi,  for  my  sea- 

1  Jean  Victor  Moreau,  the  Republican  French  general,  made  famous 
by  the  extraordinary  retreat  through  the  Black  Forest  and  the  brilliant 
Battle  of  Hohenlinden,  and  afterwards  exiled  by  Napoleon's  jealousy. 


4  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORaE  [1839-1855 

manship.  I  could  go  aloft  as  quick  and  as  handy  as  any 
seaman.  Going  to  New  Orleans,  I  often  lent  a  hand  on 
topsails,  and  could  do  as  well  as  most  of  them." 

E.  S.  H.  George  made  this  trip  to  New  Orleans  when  a 
young  man,  and  there  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business. 
Keturning  to  Philadelphia,  he  settled  down  and  married 
Miss  Louisa  Lewis,  by  whom  he  had  two  children,  one  of 
whom  died  while  an  infant,  and  the  other,  Kichard,  while 
at  boarding  school  in  his  twelfth  year.^  Within  four  or 
five  years  after  marriage  this  wife  died,  and  several  years 
later  R.  S.  H.  George  married  another  Philadelphia  lady, 
Catherine  Pratt  Vallance.  As  has  been  said,  her  father 
was  John  Vallance,  the  engraver,  born  in  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land. Her  mother  was  Margaret  Pratt,  born  in  Philadel- 
phia, but  of  English  extraction.  John  Vallance  died  in 
1833  leaving  his  widow,  seven  daughters  and  one  son  in 
modest  means,  which  Henry  Pratt,  a  wealthy  merchant 
of  Philadelphia  and  first  cousin  of  the  widow's  father,  im- 
proved by  giving  to  each  of  the  seven  girls  a  small  brick 
house.  These  girls  received  a  good  boarding  school  edu- 
cation, and  Catherine  and  Mary  were  conducting  a  small 
private  school  when  Catherine  was  married  to  E.  S.  H. 
George,  who  then  had  a  book  publishing  business. 

Mr.  George  had  for  several  years  occupied  a  good  cler- 
ical position  in  the  Philadelphia  Custom  House,  and  left 
it  in  1831  to  enter  a  book  publishing  partnership  with 
Thomas  Latimer,  who  had  married  Eebecca,  the  eldest  of 
the  Vallance  girls.  The  business  was  confined  to  the  pub- 
lication and  sale  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  Sun- 
day School  books,  and  for  a  time  became  the  depository  of 
the  General  Episcopal  Sunday  School  Union,  the  Bible 

1  There  was  also  an  adopted  child,  Harriet,  who,  growing  up, 
married  J.  H.  Evans. 


To  16th  year]  CHURCH   BOOK   PUBLISHER  5 

and  Prayer  Book  Society  and  the  Tract  Society.  After 
two  and  a  half  years  Thomas  Latimer  withdrew  and  others 
were  associated  successively  in  the  business,  which  for  sev- 
enteen years  Eichard  George  carried  on,  the  store  for  a 
time  being  at  the  north-west  corner  of  Chestnut  and  Fifth 
Streets.  A  contemporary  in  the  business  was  George  S. 
Appleton,  who  afterwards  went  to  Xew  York  and  merged 
with  his  brother  in  a  general  book  publishing  and  book 
selling  business,  under  the  firm  name  of  D.  Appleton  & 
Co. — the  same  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  who,  several  decades 
later,  were  to  be  the  first  publishers  of  "Progress  and 
Poverty."^  By  1848  the  business  of  the  general  book 
houses  had  encroached  so  much  on  denominational  business 
that  the  latter  became  unprofitable,  and  Mr.  George  with- 
drew and  went  back  to  the  Custom  House,  obtaining  the 
position  of  Ascertaining  Clerk,  which  he  thereafter  held  for 
nearly  fourteen  years. 

To  the  union  of  E.  S.  H.  George  and  Catharine  Pratt 
Vallance  ten  children  were  born,  six  girls — Caroline,  Jane, 
Catharine,  Chloe,  Mary  and  Eebecca,  the  last  two  of  whom 
died  early — and  four  boys — Henry,  Thomas,  John  and 
Morris — the  second  child  and  oldest  boy  being  the  subject 
of  this  work.  Like  the  son  by  the  former  marriage,  this 
boy  was  named  after  his  father;  but  as  the  former  bore 
the  name  of  Eichard,  the  first  of  the  father's  three  Chris- 
tian names — Eichard  Samuel  Henry — the  last  of  the 
names  was  selected  for  this  son;  and  as  the  father  desired 
a  short  name,  complaining  of  the  annoyance  to  himself 
of  a  long  one,  the  simple  one  of  Henry  George  was  chosen. 

Henry  George's  father  was  a  strict  churchman.  He 
was  a  vestryman  at  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  when 

'  This  circumstance  had  nothing  to  do  with  their  decision  to  publish 
the  book,  as  its  author  was  unknown  to  them. 


6  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1855 

that  church,  under  the  earnest  preaching  of  Dr.  Richard 
Newton,  was  at  the  height  of  its  p^osJ)e^it3^  The  con- 
gregation was  of  tlie  extreme  "Low  Church"  division  and 
regarded  "High  Church"'  tendencies  with  the  utmost  ab- 
horrence. Sunday  was  a  day  for  austere  devotions — church 
services  morning  and  afternoon,  and  frequently  in  the 
evening.  On  other  days  there  were  morning  and  even- 
ing family  prayers.  Rt.  Eev.  Ignatius  F.  Horstmann, 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Cleveland,  0.,  who  was  a  boy  in  the 
neighbourhood  at  the  time,  has  said:^  "I  can  recall  Henry 
George  going  to  church  every  Sunday,  walking  between 
his  two  elder  sisters,  followed  by  his  father  and  mother 
— all  of  them  so  neat,  trim  and  reserved." 

But  that  there  were  occasional  breaks  in  the  austerity 
may  be  certain.  Rev.  George  A.  Latimer,  Henry  George's 
cousin,  has  said: 

"Henry  George  was  in  my  Sunday  school  class.  It 
was  the  custom  of  Dr.  Newton  to  have  the  children  of 
the  church  in  the  main  lecture  room  once  a  month  in 
the  afternoon  for  catechising.  One  Sunday  the  subject 
was  that  part  of  the  catechism  that  declares  our  duty 
towards  our  neighbour,  and  the  special  topic,  'to  keep 
my  hands  from  picking  and  stealing.'  Our  class  was 
on  the  front  row.  The  Doctor  asked  the  question: 
'Boys,  why  do  the  grocerymen  have  that  wire  netting 
over  the  dried  peaches  in  the  barrel  at  the  store  door?' 
Henry  George  at  once  answered  with  a  loud  voice:  'To 
keep  the  flies  out.'  The  Doctor's  face  turned  as  red  as 
blood,  while  at  the  same  time  he  said:  'Yes,  to  keep 
the  hands  from  picking  and  stealing.' " 

Rev.  William  Wilberforce  Newton,  son  of  the  rector, 
who  was  in  this  school  with  Henry  George,  said  in  an 

1  Letter  to  "National  Single  Taxer,"  Aug.  31,  1898. 


Henry  George  at  about  five. 
Ftvin  dagnerrvotiipe  taken  in  riiHadelphla. 


To  16th  year]  SUNDAY   SCHOOL  BOY  7 

address  after  the  latter's  death  that  "that  school  turned 
out  some  remarkable  men,"  naming  Bishop  Charles  K. 
Hall  of  Illinois,  Bishop  Wm.  H.  Odenheimer  of  New 
Jersey,  Eev.  Wm.  W.  Farr,  Henry  S.  Getz,  Kev.  Eiehard 
N.  Thomas,  editor  of  the  "American  Church  Sunday 
School  Magazine,"  George  C.  Thomas,  of  Drexel  &  Co. 
bankers,  and  Treasurer  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  Eev.  E.  Heber  New- 
ton, William  Wilberforce  Newton's  brother.  Mr.  Newton 
told  this  anecdote: 

"Our  class  was  located  in  that  part  of  the  church 
known  as  the  basement,  and  as  we  looked  out  at  the 
window,  our  view  was  obstructed  by  innumerable  grave- 
stones. 

"My  people  were  extremely  hospitable  to  missionaries. 
One  time  Missionary  Bishop  Payne  of  Africa  came  with 
his  wife  to  our  house  and  staid  six  weeks.  They 
brought  with  them  a  lot  of  monkeys  and  other  beasts 
of  the  tropical  clime.  We  used  to  have  great  times 
among  ourselves — the  boys  of  the  neighbourhood  and 
the  monkeys  and  the  dumb  animals — playing  'firemen.' 
One  day  we  were  having  a  parade.  There  was  no  flag. 
So  I  went  into  the  house  and  got  a  Sunday  school  ban- 
ner with  an  illustration  of  Paul  preaching  at  Ephesus. 
It  was  not  exactly  appropriate,  but  it  answered  the  pur- 
pose. Henry  George  insisted  upon  carrying  the  ban- 
ner which  all  the  boys  thought  a  good  deal  of. 

"As  our  firemen's  parade  was  turning  the  corner  of 
the  house  that  day,  Henry  George  heard  my  father  say 
to  the  missionary  that  if  he  saw  anything  about  the 
house  that  he  thought  would  be  of  service  to  him  in 
Africa  he  was  welcome  to  it,  and  the  missionary  replied 
that  he  thought  the  tool  chest  would  come  in  handy. 
George  passed  the  word  along  the  line  and  very  soon 
our  parade  was  broken  up  and  we  became  an  army  of 
warriors  for  the  protection  of  that  tool  chest.  But  it 
went  to  Africa  just  the  same." 


8  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1856 

At  the  time  of  his  son  Henry's  birth,  the  book  busi- 
ness enabled  Mr.  George  to  keep  his  famil}^  in  comfort. 
Giving  care  to  his  children's  education,  he  sent  them  as 
they  grew  old  enough  to  Mrs.  Graham's  private  school, 
on  Catharine  Street  near  Third,  the  family  having  moved 
from  Tenth  Street  to  the  west  side  of  Third  Street,  three 
doors  north  of  Queen,  where  they  remained  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years.  After  three  years  at  Mrs.  Graham's, 
and  when  he  was  in  his  ninth  year,  the  eldest  son,  Henry, 
was  sent  to  a  public  school,  Mount  Vernon  Grammar, 
where  Ignatius  Horstmann  attended  in  a  class  above  him. 
A  year  later,  in  1849,  he  was  sent  to  the  Episcopal 
Academy. 

This  institution,  flourishing  to-day,  was  founded  in 
revolutionary  times,  but  seemed  to  decline  until  Bishop 
Alonzo  Potter  raised  it  at  the  end  of  the  forties  to  first 
rank  as  a  place  of  instruction  in  the  city  and  State.  Eev. 
Dr.  Hare  was  then  principal,  and  the  institution  was  fre- 
quently spoken  of  as  Hare's  Academy.  The  Bishop's  two 
sons,  Henry  C.  and  E.  N".  Potter  were  at  the  Academy 
then,  and  in  the  years  to  come  were  to  achieve  distinction, 
the  former  as  the  Episcopal  Bishop  of  New  York  City  and 
the  other  as  president  of  two  colleges  successively.  K. 
Heber  Newton  and  William  Wilberforce  Newton  were  also 
fellow  students.  Dr.  Heber  Newton  remembers  the  school 
as  being  in  a  most  prosperous  condition,  "the  large  chapel 
being  quite  filled  with  boys,  and  the  class  rooms  seemingly 
well  filled,  and  attendance  upon  it  was  esteemed  an  ad- 
vantage and  a  privilege." 

But  though  it  was  a  good  school,  young  George  did 
not  stay  there  long.  His  father  had  now  ceased  to  be 
publisher  of  Church  books,  yet  he  obtained  for  his  son 
the  reduced  rate  of  tuition  granted  to  clergymen's  sons. 
This  concession  was  regarded  by  the  boy  as  something  to 


To  16th  year]  GOES  TO  THE  HIGH   SCHOOL  9 

which  he  was  not  entitled  and  he  believed  that  every  boy 
in  the  school  knew  of  it;  and  perhaps  it  was  for  this 
reason  that  from  the  start  he  did  not  get  along  well  there. 
At  any  rate,  his  father,  yielding  to  his  entreaties,  took 
him  away  and  put  him  in  the  hands  of  Henry  Y.  Lau- 
derbach  to  be  prepared  for  High  school.  This  short  pe- 
riod, Henry  George  always  recognised  as  the  most  profit- 
able portion  of  his  little  schooling.  Mr.  Lauderbach  had 
a  way  of  his  own,  drawing  out  and  stimulating  the  indi- 
viduality of  his  pupils.  Thirty  years  afterwards  he 
clearly  remembered  Henry  George  as  a  student  remark- 
able among  boys  for  quickness  of  thought,  originality  and 
general  information.  The  special  training  under  Lauder- 
bach enabled  the  youth  at  little  more  than  thirteen  to 
enter  a  class  in  the  High  school  that  was  to  produce  some 
notable  men  in  Pennsylvania — Theodore  Cramp,  ship 
builder;  Charles  W.  Alexander,  journalist;  James  Mor- 
gan Hart,  professor  and  author ;  Samuel  L.  Gracey,  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  clergyman;  David  H.  Lane,  a  Recorder 
of  Philadelphia;  and  William  Jenks  Fell,  Commissioner 
of  Deeds.  This  school,  like  the  Episcopal  Academy,  was 
an  excellent  one,  but  later  in  life  Henry  George  said  that 
while  there  he  was  "for  the  most  part  idle  and  wasted 
time."  Perhaps  it  was  that  he  had  his  mind's  eye  set 
on  the  world  outside  of  school !  Perhaps  it  was  that  con- 
scious that  the  growing  family  was  putting  a  strain  on 
his  father,  whose  sole  income  was  the  $800  salary  of  a 
Custom  House  clerk,  he  felt  that  he  should  be  supporting 
himself.  It  was  probably  his  Uncle  Thomas  Latimer  who 
at  this  time  gave  him  advice  of  which  he  spoke  in  a 
speech  about  thirty  years  later:  "I  remember  when  a  boy, 
I  wanted  to  go  to  sea.  I  talked  with  a  gentleman,  who 
wanted  me  to  go  into  business  as  a  boy  in  a  store.  I  had 
nothing,  no  particular  facility,  yet  I  remember  his  saying 


10  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1855 

to  me:  'If  you  are  honest,  if  you  are  steady,  if  you  are 
industrious,  you  can  certainly  look  forward  to  being  able 
to  retire  at  forty  with  comfort  for  the  rest  of  your  days.'  "^ 
These  words  may  have  had  a  strong  influence  on  the  boy's 
mind.  At  any  rate,  after  less  than  five  months  in  the 
High  School,  he  induced  his  father  to  take  him  away,  to 
stop  his  schooling  altogether,  and  put  him  to  work;  and 
he  never  went  to  school  afterwards.  He  was  then  less 
than  fourteen  years  old.^  He  first  obtained  employment 
in  the  china  and  glass  importing  house  of  Samuel  Asbury 
&  Co.,  at  85  South  Front  Street,  at  $2  a  week.  His  duties 
were  to  copy,  to  tie  up  bundles  and  to  run  errands.  Af- 
terwards he  went  into  the  office  of  a  marine  adjuster  and 
did  clerical  work. 

But  though  he  had  left  school  for  good,  his  real  edu- 
cation suffered  no  interruption.  In  school  or  out  of  it, 
he  had  acquired  a  fondness  for  reading.  Or  perhaps  it 
was  that  at  his  birth,  while  the  Fairies  of  Gain,  Fashion 
and  Pleasure  passed  him  by,  one  came  and  sat  beside  his 
cradle  and  softly  sang 

"Mine  is  the  world  of  thought,  the  world  of  dream ; 
Mine  all  the  past,  and  all  the  future  mine." 

First  he  had  a  grounding  in  the  Bible;  and  the  Puri- 
tanical familiarity  with  book,  chapter  and  verse,  which  in 
the  elders  moulded  speech,  established  habit,  and  guided 
the  steps  of  life,  filled  the  young  mind  with  a  myriad  of 
living  pictures.     Then,  though  his  father  while  a  pub- 

1  Speech,  "  Crime  of  Poverty,"  1885.  After  uttering  the  foregoing  pas- 
sage, Mr.  George  asked :  "  Who  would  dare  in  New  York  or  in  any  of 
our  great  cities,  to  say  that  to  a  young  clerk  now  ?," 

2  At  fourteen  Adam  Smith  was  attending  the  University  of  Glasgow  ; 
while  John  Stuart  Mill  was  learning  Greek  at  three,  Latin  at  eight,  logic 
at  twelve  and  political  economy  at  thirteen. 


Toiethyearj  EARLY  LOVE  OF  READING  11 

lisher  handled  only  religious  books,  and  those  confined  to 
the  Episcopal  Church,  there  were  the  strange  tales  of  mis- 
sionaries in  foreign  lands  to  feed  the  imagination.  After- 
wards when  the  father  left  the  book  business  there  was 
still  an  atmosphere  of  reading  about  the  home,  and  other 
books  came  in  the  boy's  way.  He  delighted  in  history, 
travels  and  adventure,  fiction  and  poetry.  While  in  his 
strong  democratic  principles  and  practical  side,  the  boy 
followed  his  father,  it  was  in  a  love  of  poetry  that  he  re- 
sembled his  mother,  who  as  an  elderly  woman  could  quote 
verse  after  verse  and  poem  after  poem  learned  in  her  girl- 
hood. She  manifested  at  all  times  an  intense  fondness 
for  Scott,  and  had  a  taste  for  Shakespeare,  though  owing 
to  her  austere  principles,  she  never  in  her  life  attended 
a  Shakesperian  play.^  This  religious  ban  extended  in 
the  boy's  reading  to  much  in  the  realm  of  romance  and 
adventure,  such  works  as  the  "Scottish  Chiefs,"  for  in- 
stance, having  to  be  read  in  the  seclusion  of  his  attic  bed- 
chamber. But  in  the  open  or  in  the  smuggled  way  books 
were  obtained,  and  the  old  Quaker  Apprentice's  Library 
and  the  Franklin  Institute  Library  furnished  inexhaust- 
ible mines  of  reading  matter.  Book  after  book  was  de- 
voured with  a  delight  that  showed  that  now  certainly  the 
youthful  mind  was  not  "idle"  nor  his  "time  wasted."     He 

^In  a  speech  in  Liverpool  many  years  later  (Nov.  30,  1888)  Henry 
George  said  :  "  I  was  educated  in  a  very  strict  faith.  My  people  and  the 
people  whom  I  knew  in  my  childhood,  the  people  who  went  to  our  church 
and  other  churches  of  the  same  kind,  had  a  notion  that  the  theatre  was  a 
very  bad  place,  and  they  would  not  go  to  one  on  any  account.  There 
was  a  celebrated  fellow-citizen  of  mine  of  the  name  of  Barnum.  Barnum 
went  to  Philadelphia,  and  he  recognised  that  prejudice,  and  he  saw  that, 
although  there  were  a  number  of  theatres  running  for  the  ungodly,  a 
theatre  he  could  get  the  godly  to  go  to  would  pay  extremely  well.  But 
he  did  not  start  a  theatre.  Oh,  no  !  He  started  a  lecture  room,  and  we 
had  in  that  lecture  room  theatrical  representations,  and  it  was  crowded 
every  night  in  the  week  and  there  were  two  matinees." 


12  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1855 

absorbed  information  as  the  parched  earth  a  summer 
shower,  and  what  he  thus  took  in  he  retained.  To  this 
fondness  for  reading  he  always  ascribed  the  beginning  of 
his  real  education  and  the  commencement  of  his  career. 

And  what  came  like  enchantment  to  his  mind  and  sup- 
plemented his  reading  were  popular  scientific  lectures  at 
the  Franklin  Institute.  This  institution,  named  after 
the  famous  townsman,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  incor- 
porated in  1824  for  "the  promotion  and  encouragement 
of  manufactures  and  the  mechanic  and  useful  arts,"  in 
the  forties  and  fifties  took  first  rank  in  scientific  learning 
in  the  city,  which  at  the  same  time  was  without  peer 
in  this  country  for  its  public  libraries,  museums  and  pri- 
vate cabinets.  Of  the  Institute,  Henry  George's  uncle, 
Thomas  Latimer,  was  a  member.  To  him  the  boy  was 
indebted  for  access  to  the  lectures — lectures  that  revealed 
the  wonders  of  the  physical  sciences  in  simple  language 
and  magic  lantern  pictures.  Like  a  torch  they  lit  up 
the  young  understanding  and  made  a  fitting  attendant  to 
that  university  of  reading  to  which  he  was  of  his  own 
volition  applying  himself. 

This  reading  fed  a  desire  that  his  father's  stories  and 
the  tales  and  traditions  about  his  grandfather  had  kindled 
in  him  for  the  sea.  "One  of  our  chief  play  grounds," 
Rev.  W.  W.  Newton  has  said,  "was  about  the  wharves  of 
the  city.  He  had  a  friend  who  was  a  sea  captain  and  I 
a  cousin,  and  both  of  us  had  our  minds  set  on  a  sea  voy- 
age." Mr.  George  encouraged  in  his  son  an  active  life, 
going  to  see  him  skate  and  swim.  One  day  he  saved  him 
from  drowning  by  putting  down  his  cane  when  the  boy 
had  dived  under  a  float.  Though  a  strict  churchman, 
the  father  could  not  forget  his  own  early  warlike  days 
and  was  not  averse  to  having  his  boy  fight  in  just  quar- 
rels.    But  it  was  the  shipping  that  chiefly  interested  fa- 


From  daguerreotype  takeu  about  the  time  that 

Henry  George,  less  than  fourteeu,  left 

school  and  weut  to  work. 


To  16th  year] 


YEARNING  FOR   THE  SEA  13 


ther  and  son,  and  as  they  strolled  along  the  river-piers 
together,  the  father  talked  about  hull  and  rig,  wind  and 
weather,  and  the  wonders  of  sea  and  foreign  lands,  so  that 
the  wharves  had  a  fascination  for  the  boy,  and  it  was 
around  them  that  with  Willie  Newton  or  Bill  Horner, 
Col  and  Charley  Walton  and  Will  Jones  he  spent  much 
of  his  play  time,  climbing  about  vessels,  going  swimming 
or  sailing  toy  boats.  And  this  was  not  all  idle  play,  but 
served  its  purposes  in  later  life,  for  the  boy's  powers  of 
observation  and  reasoning  were  in  constant  exercise.^ 

After  a  while,  when  the  boy  left  the  crockery  house  and 
went  into  the  marine  adjuster's  office,  the  desire  for  the 
sea  increased  so  much  that  he  went  to  his  cousin,  George 
Latimer,  who  was  ten  years  older  than  himself,  and  asked 
him  to  speak  in  his  behalf  to  an  acquaintance  of  the  fam- 

1 ' '  When  I  was  a  boy  I  went  down  to  the  wharf  with  another  boy  to  see 
the  first  iron  steamship  which  had  ever  crossed  the  ocean  to  our  port. 
Now,  hearing  of  an  iron  steamship  seemed  to  its  then  a  good  deal  like 
hearing  of  a  leaden  kite  or  a  wooden  cooking  stove.  But,  we  had  not 
been  long  aboard  of  her,  before  my  companion  said  in  a  tone  of  contemp- 
tuous disgust :  '  Pooh  !  I  see  how  it  is.  She's  all  lined  with  wood  ; 
that's  the  reason  she  floats.'  I  could  not  controvert  him  for  the  mo- 
ment, but  I  was  not  satisfied,  and  sitting  down  on  the  wharf  when  he 
left  me,  I  set  to  work  trying  mental  experiments.  If  it  was  the  wood  in- 
side of  her  that  made  her  float,  then  the  more  wood  the  higher  she  would 
float ;  and  mentally  I  loaded  her  up  with  wood.  But,  as  I  was  familiar 
with  the  process  of  making  boats  out  of  blocks  of  wood,  I  at  once  saw 
that,  instead  of  floating  higher,  she  would  sink  deeper.  Then  I  men- 
tally took  all  the  wood  out  of  her,  as  we  dug  out  our  wooden  boats, 
and  saw  that  thus  lightened  she  would  float  higher  still.  Then,  in  imagina- 
tion, I  jammed  a  hole  in  her,  and  saw  that  the  water  would  run  in  and 
she  would  sink,  as  did  our  wooded  boats  when  ballasted  with  leaden 
keels.  And  thus  I  saw,  as  clearly  as  though  I  could  have  actually  made 
these  experiments  with  the  steamer,  that  it  was  not  the  wooden  lining 
that  made  her  float,  but  her  hoUowness,  or  as  I  would  now  phrase  it,  her 
displacement  of  water."—  Lecture  on  "The  Study  of  Political  Economy" 
at  University  of  California,  March  9,  1877. 


14  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [183&-1855 

ily,  a  young  man  named  Samuel  Miller  who  was  mate 
and  whose  father  was  captain  of  the  ship  Hindoo.  No 
better  insight  into  the  habits  of  the  boy  and  of  his  con- 
stant thought  of  the  sea  can  be  obtained  than  from  ex- 
tracts from  a  short  journal  that  he  kept  at  the  beginning 
of  1855,  probably  at  the  suggestion  of  his  uncle,  Thomas 
Latimer.  Though  then  scarcely  more  than  fifteen,  and 
although  he  had  spent  all  his  life  in  a  town  of  brick  houses 
and  perhaps  had  never  more  than  seen  the  ocean,  he  noted 
wind  and  weather  with  the  care  of  a  veteran  sea  captain. 
Incidentally  the  journal  shows  the  important  part  the 
lectures  at  the  Franklin  Institute  were  playing: 

"Jan.  7,  Mon.  Eose  at  6.  Went  to  store.  Evening 
went  to  lecture. 

"Jan.  8,  Tues.  to  Fri.     Eainy,  warm  and  muddy. 

"Jan.  13,  Sat.  Went  to  store.  Coming  home  stopped 
in  at  library.  Saw  in  'New  York  Herald' :  'Arrived, 
Ship  Hindoo,  Miller ;  Canton,  July  23 ;  Angier,  Sept. 

28 ;  Cape  Good  Hope,  Nov.  6 ;  St.  Helena,  .     Was 

68  to  Angier.  In  month  of  August  only  made  200  miles 
against  S.W.  monsoon  and  strong  northerly  currents.' 
I  have  been  expecting  her  for  some  time.  Stopped  at 
Latimer's.  Got  Tom  [his  brother]  and  came  home. 
Little  Augustine,  the  Chilian  boy  from  the  ship  Boiv- 
ditch,  came.  He  found  his  way  alone.  Only  been  here 
once  before,  on  Tuesday  night.  Went  up  to  Mrs.  Mc- 
Donald's and  got  my  pants.  Went  with  Augustine  to 
buy  a  collar. 

"Jan.  14,  Sun.  Clear  and  cold,  wind  N.W.  Went 
to  Sunday  school  with  Charley  Walton.  Mr.  Newton 
preached  good  sermon.  Was  coming  home,  corner  of 
Third  and  Catharine  met  Augustine.  After  dinner 
took  him  up  to  Uncle  Joe's.  In  evening  he  came  again. 
Took  him  to  Trinity  Church. 

"Jan.  15,  Mon.  Wind  S.,  moderating.  Went  to 
store.  Evening  went  to  lecture.  George  Latimer  said 
they  had  received  a  letter  from  Sam  Miller  saying  that 
he  would  be  home  in  a  few  days. 


To  16th  year]  THE   FIRST   DIARY  15 

"Jan.  16,  Tues.  Wind  N.E.,  clear  and  warm.  George 
told  me  he  had  written  to  Sam  Miller  and  told  him 
about  me. 

"Jan.  17,  Wed.  Cloudy.  Wind  went  around  to  N.W. 
and  blew  up  clear.  Went  to  lecture,  last  on  electricity, 
Augustine  at  home.  * 

"Jan.  18,  Tues.  Wind  N.W.,  clear  and  cold.  In 
evening  Augustine  and  Charley  Walton  came.  Went 
around  to  library  and  up  to  McDonald's  for  Cad  [Caro- 
line, his  sister]. 

"Jan.  19,  Fri.  Told  Sam  that  I  was  going  to  leave. 
He  gave  me  $13.  ...  In  morning  met  Augustine, 
who  said  he  had  got  place  on  steam  tug  America — $2 
a  week.     Evening  went  to  lecture. 

"Jan.  20,  Sat.  Wind  N.E.  Last  day  at  store.  They 
expect  Sam  Miller  home  to-night. 

"Jan.  21,  Sun.  Wind  S.,  warm,  cloudy.  Sam  Mil- 
ler did  not  come  home  last  night.  They  expect  him 
home  next  Saturday.  Went  to  Sunday  school  and 
Church.  Augustine  sat  in  our  pew.  Took  him  in  after- 
noon to  Sunday  school.  ...  It  blew  in  the  even- 
ing very  strong  and  about  one  o'clock  increased  to  per- 
fect hurricane,  blowing  as  I  never  had  heard  it  before 
from  the  South. 

"Jan.  22,  Mon.  Took  up  a  basket  to  the  store  for 
crockery  Mr.  Young  said  he  would  give  me.  .  .  . 
In  afternoon  went  down  to  Navy  Yard  with  Bill  Hor- 
ner. Evening  went  to  lecture.  Brought  home  a  lot  of 
crockery. 

"Jan.  23,  Tues.  Wind  N.W.,  clear  and  cool.  Even- 
ing went  to  Thomas's  book  sale.  Bought  a  lot  of  six 
books  for  seven  cents. 

"Jan.  24,  Wed.  Went  to  lecture  in  evening,  first  on 
climatology.     Liked  it  very  mv;ch. 

"Jan.  25,  Thurs.     Went  to  store  in  morning.     ,     ,     , 

"Jan.  26,  Fri.  Snowed  all  the  morning.  Aunt  Ee- 
becca  [Latimer]  says  that  Sam  Miller  did  not  get 
George  Latimer's  letter.  George  wrote  to  him  again 
yesterday.  Ho  will  be  here  next  Wednesday.  .  .  . 
Cleared  off  with  N.W.  wind.  In  afternoon  snow-balled. 
Went  to  lecture  in  evening,  first  on  organic  chemistry. 
Liked  it  very  much. 


16  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  L1S39-1855 

"Jan.  37,  Sat.     Went  skating  morning  and  afternoon. 

"Jan.  38,  Sun.  Augustine  came  in  the  afternoon. 
He  is  going  to  Cuba  in  Brig  Aucturus  of  Union  Island. 

"Jan.  39,  Mon.  Went  to  navy  yard  and  brig  [Auc- 
turusl   in  morning.     Lecture  in  evening. 

"Jan.  31,  Wed.  Skating* in  afternoon.  Sam  Miller 
did  not  come  home.  Will  be  home  on  Saturday  morn- 
ing. 

"Feb.  1,  Thurs.     Skating  in  afternoon. 

"Feb.  3,  Fri.  Evening  went  to  see  the  panorama  of 
Europe. 

"Feb.  3,  Sat.  Sam  Miller  came  home  yesterday  after- 
noon. Went  to  George  Latimer's  office  to  see  him.  He 
says  if  he  goes  as  captain  he  will  take  me.  The  owners 
of  the  Hindoo  have  bought  the  clipper  Whirlwind.  Both 
will  sail  for  Melbourne  about  the  middle  of  March 
and  from  there  to  Calcutta  and  home.  Hindoo  prob- 
ably make  it  in  11  months.  Hindoo  is  35  years  old, 
586  tons  register,  1,300  burden;  carries  14  able  sea- 
men, cook,  steward,  two  mates  and  captain — in  all  19 
men.  Sam  Miller  intends  going  back  to  New  York  on 
Wednesday.     Went  skating  in  afternoon. 

"Feb.  5,  Mon.  Afternoon  went  to  Uncle  Dunkin 
George's  office.  His  boy  is  sick.  Evening  Pop  met  Sam 
Miller  and  George  Latimer  in  Chestnut  street.  .  .  . 
Pop  asked  Sam  Miller  to  tea  on  Saturday.     Very  cold. 

"Feb.  6,  Tues.     Very  cold;  thermometer  at  Zero. 

"Feb.  7,  Wed.  Kiver  blocked  up.  Commenced  snow- 
ing.    Wind  N.E.  till  night. 

"Feb.  8,  Thurs.  Snowed  again  all  day.  In  after- 
noon went  sleighing  with  Uncle  Joe  Van  Dusen. 

"Feb.  9,  Fri.  Clear.  Delaware  pretty  nearly  closed. 
Skated  a  little  on  the  ice  in  the  afternoon.  Saw  Augus- 
tine on  the  first  ice  he  had  ever  been  on.  Went  to 
Aunt  Eebecca  Latimer's  to  tea. 

"Feb.  10,  Sat.  Sam  Miller  and  George  and  Kate 
Latimer  came  about  five  o'clock  and  staid  to  sup- 
per. .  .  .  Sam  said  he  had  received  a  letter  from 
his  father  saying  he  need  not  come  on  to  New  York 
until  he  sent  for  him. 

"Feb.  11,  Sun.  Clear  and  cold.  Up  at  Uncle  Dun- 
kin's  office  all  the  week. 


To  16th  year]  PREPARES  TO  LEAVE  HOME  17 

"Feb.  19,  Mon.  Came  home  at  night  along  the  wharf. 
Saw  Augustine  on  the  Brig  Globe  of  Bangor,  about  to 
sail  for  Cuba.  Stopped  at  Aunt  Rebecca's.  Sam  Mil- 
ler had  heard  nothing  from  his  father. 

"Feb.  20,  Tues.  Auntie  Ann  came  to  our  house 
to  dinner.  Said  Sam  Miller  had  heard  from  his  fa- 
ther to  go  on  immediately.  He  went  on  at  two 
o'clock.     .     .     . 

"March  36,  Mon.  Uncle  Dunkins  in  the  morning. 
Saw  in  New  York  papers  at  Exchange  the  Hindoo  ad- 
vertised to  sail  on  the  5  th  of  April — a  week  from  next 
Thursday. 

"March  27,  Tues.  Office  in  morning.  Staid  home 
in  afternoon  working  on  my  brig  [toy  boat].  .  .  . 
Before  supper  went  to  Aunt  Rebecca's.  George  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Captain  Miller  [Sam  Miller,  just 
made  captain].  Said  he  would  sail  about  Thursday, 
April  5,  and  that  he  would  come  on  to  Philadelphia 
on  Saturday  and  stay  till  Monday  and  take  me  with 
him.     It  surprised  them  all. 

"March  28,  Wed.  Went  to  Uncle  Dunkin's  in  the 
morning.  Told  him  I  should  not  come  up  any  more, 
as  I  had  so  little  time. 

"March  31,  Sat.  Stayed  at  home  in  the  morning  fin- 
ishing my  brig.  Painted  her.  After  dinner,  my  last 
dinner  at  home,  went  with  father  and  mother  to  get 
our  daguerreotypes  taken.  Came  home  and  went  to 
Aunt  Rebecca's  to  supper  in  company  with  Cad  and 
Jennie.     Went  home  at  eight  p.m." 

Young  Samuel  W.  Miller,  then  about  twenty-five,  had 
obtained  command  of  the  ship  Hindoo,  an  old  East  India- 
man,  on  which  he  had  formerly  sailed  as  mate  under  his 
father,  who  was  now  transferred  to  a  new  ship.  At  the 
suggestion  of  George  Latimer,  and  after  talking  with 
Henry  George's  father,  he  had  formally  invited  young 
Henry  to  sail  with  him.  For  Richard  George  was  a  clear- 
headed, common-sensed  man.  Much  as  he  disliked  to 
have  the  boy  go  to  sea,  he  knew  that  his  son  inherited  the 
longing.     Moreover,  knowing  the  strong,  wilful  nature  of 


18  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1839-1855 

his  son,  he  feared  that  if  objection  was  raised  the  boy 
might  run  away,  as  he  had  done  once  before  while  yet 
going  to  school.  The  lad  had  made  an  impertinent  reply 
to  his  mother,  and  his  father,  overhearing  it,  reproved 
him  with  words  and  a  blow.  To  be  struck  by  his  father 
was  so  unusual  that  he  was  humiliated.  He  stole  away, 
got  his  school  books  and  a  little  cold  lunch — all  that  he 
could  get  to  eat — and  left  the  house  with  the  resolve  never 
to  return  again.  He  remained  out  until  half  past  nine 
o'clock  that  night,  when  he  returned  with  a  tamer  spirit 
and  was  forgiven.  The  father  had  not  forgotten  this 
incident,  and  he  was  determined  that  if  the  boy  must 
go  to  sea  he  should  go  with  his  parents'  consent.  So  he 
talked  to  Captain  Miller  and  suggested  to  him  not  to 
make  the  boy's  berth  too  comfortable,  but  to  let  him  see 
and  feel  the  rigours  of  a  sailor's  life,  so  that  by  a  single 
voyage  the  desire  for  roving  should  be  destroyed.  Henry 
George  was  then  accepted  as  foremast  boy  on  the  Hindoo, 
bound  for  Melbourne,  Australia,  and  Calcutta,  India. 


CHAPTER  II. 
BEFORE    THE    MAST. 

1855-1856.  Age,  16-17. 

A  USTRALIA  and  India  swam  in  the  boy's  fancy  as  in  a 
JTjL  shining  sea  of  gold.  Australia,  the  island  continent 
nearly  as  large  as  the  United  States,  giving  promise  of  a 
great  rival,  English-speaking  republic  in  the  southern 
hemisphere,  had  riveted  attention  by  its  gold  discoveries 
in  the  early  fifties  and  by  the  enormous  treasure  since 
taken  out — equal  almost  to  that  of  wonderful  California. 
It  was  the  new  land  of  wealth,  where  poor,  obscure  men 
in  a  day  rose  to  riches.  India  lay  like  a  counterpoise  in 
the  mind's  picture.  With  her  jungles  and  monkeys,  tigers 
and  elephants;  her  painted  idols,  fantastical  philosophies 
and  poppy  smokers — this  land  of  mysteries,  old  when  the 
pyramids  of  Egypt  and  Syria  were  young,  shone  through 
partings  in  her  gorgeous  tropical  foliage  with  the  gleam 
of  gold  and  precious  stones,  despite  the  pillage  of  the  ages. 
Whatever  the  boy  had  read,  from  Bible  to  "Arabian 
Nights,"  in  magazine  or  in  newspaper;  and  all  that  he 
had  heard,  in  lecture  or  sermon,  from  traveller  or  sailor, 
burned  in  his  imagination  and  made  him  eager  to  be 
gone. 

The  Hindoo  was  to  sail  from  New  York  Harbour  early 
in   April.      On    Sunday,   April    1,   after   Sunday   school, 

19 


20  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [185^1856 

Henry  George  received  a  Bible  and  a  copy  of  "James's 
Anxious  Enquirer";  and  the  next  morning,  bidding  fare- 
well at  the  wharf  to  his  father,  and  uncles  Thomas  Lati- 
mer and  Joseph  Van  Dusen,  his  cousin  George  Latimer 
and  his  friends  Col  Walton  and  Joe  Eoberts,  he  and  Cap- 
tain Miller  went  aboard  the  steamboat,  crossed  the  Dela- 
ware, took  train,  and  four  hours  afterwards  were  in  New 
York.  Two  letters  from  him,  written  from  the  ship  be- 
fore she  got  a-waj,  have  been  preserved.  They  are  in 
large,  clear,  firm  hand,  with  some  shading,  some  flour- 
ishes and  a  number  of  misspelled  words.  In  the  first, 
under  date  of  April  6,  he  says: 

"I  signed  the  shipping  articles  at  $6  a  month  and 
two  months'  advance,  which  I  got  in  the  morning. 

"While  we  were  down  town  we  stopped  at  the  Cus- 
tom House,  and  Jim  [an  ordinary  seaman]  and  I  got  a 
protection,  for  which  we  paid  $1  each  to  a  broker. 

"The  New  York  Custom  House  looks  like  a  cooped 
up  affair  along  side  of  the  Philadelphia  one — there  are 
so  many  people  and  so  much  business  and  bustle. 

"The  upper  part  of  New  York  is  a  beautiful  place — 
the  streets  wide,  clear  and  regular;  the  houses  all  a 
brown  stone  and  standing  ten  or  twenty  feet  from  the 
pavement,  with  gardens  in  front." 

To  the  foregoing  letter  was  added  this: 

April  7,  1855. 

"I  was  stopped  [writing]  suddenly  last  night  by  the 
entrance  of  the  men  to  haul  her  [the  vessel]  to  the  end 
of  the  wharf  and  was  prevented  from  going  on  by  their 
laughing  and  talking.  At  about  twelve  o'clock  we  com- 
menced and  by  some  pretty  hard  heaving  we  got  her  to 
the  end  of  the  wharf.  It  was  then  about  two  o'clock. 
So  we  turned  in  and  slept  until  about  half  past  five. 
We  got  our  breakfast,  and  being  taken  in  tow  by  a 
steamboat  about  7.30  a.m.,  proceeded  down  the  stream 


Age,  16-17]  SCENES  IN  NEW  YORK  21 

till  off  the  Battery,  where  we  dropped  anchor  and 
now  lie. 

"The  view  from  this  spot  is  beautiful — the  North 
Eiver  and  New  York  Bay  covered  with  sailing  ves- 
sels and  steamers  of  every  class  and  size,  while  back, 
the  hills,  gently  sloping,  are  covered  with  country 
seats.     .     .     . 

"I  ate  my  first  meals  sailor  style  to-day  and  did  not 
dislike  it  at  all.  Working  around  in  the  open  air  gives 
one  such  an  appetite  that  he  can  eat  almost  anything. 
We  shall  go  to  sea  Monday  morning  early.  I  should 
love  to  see  you  all  again  before  I  go,  but  that  is  impos- 
sible. I  shall  write  again  to-morrow,  and  if  possible  get 
the  pilot  to  take  a  letter  when  he  leaves,  though  it  is 
doubtful  that  I  shall  be  able  to  write  one." 

It  was  in  these  days  preparatory  to  starting,  when  there 
were  a  lot  of  odd  things  to  do,  that  the  boatswain,  busy 
with  some  splicing,  sent  the  boy  for  some  tar;  and  when 
the  boy  stopped  to  look  around  for  a  stick,  the  sailor  in 
surprise  and  disgust  cried  to  him  to  bring  the  tar  in  his 
hand !  Another  incident  of  a  similar  kind  appears  in  his 
second  letter,  which  is  dated  April  9  and  is  addressed 
to  his  Aunt  Mary,  one  of  his  mother's  sisters,  a  most 
unselfish  and  lovable  maiden  lady  who  helped  raise  the 
large  brood  of  George  children,  and  who,  until  her  death 
in  1875,  had  never  been  separated  from  her  sister,  Mrs. 
George.  She  was  loved  as  a  second  mother  by  the  chil- 
dren. 

"We  are  not  at  sea,  as  we  expected  to  be  by  this  time, 
but  still  lying  off  the  Battery.  The  ship  could  not 
sail  this  morning  for  want  of  seamen.  They  are  very 
scarce  in  New  York  now  and  all  sorts  of  men  are  ship- 
ping as  sailors.  Two  Dutch  boys  shipped  as  able  sea- 
men and  came  on  board  yesterday  afternoon.  The 
smallest  one  had  been  to  sea  before,  but  the  largest  did 
not  know  the  difference  between  a  yard  and  a  block. 


22  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

The  second  mate  told  them  to  go  aloft  and  slush  down 
the  masts.  This  morning  the  smallest  went  up,  but 
the  other  could  not  go  up  at  all.  So  I  had  to  go  aloft 
and  do  it.  The  work  was  a  good  deal  easier  than  I 
expected.     I  don't  mind  handling  grease  at  all  now."^ 

Then  the  letter  proceeds: 

"Captain  Miller  has  been  ashore  all  day  trying  to 
get  men.  There  is  to  be  one  sent  on  board  in  place  of 
the  largest  Dutchman.  I  pity  the  poor  fellow,  though 
to  be  sure  he  had  no  business  to  ship  as  seaman.  He 
says  he  has  four  trades — baker,  shoemaker,  etc.  An- 
other man  came  aboard  this  morning  as  able  seaman 
who  could  not  get  into  the  foretop.  They  sent  him 
ashore.  The  captain  shipped  to-day  as  ordinary  sea- 
men two  lads,  one  a  Spaniard  and  the  other  English,  I 
believe.  They  are  fine  sailor  looking  fellows.  The 
cook,  steward  and  two  of  the  men  are  from  the  West 
Indies.  All  sailed  in  whalers.  There  are  no  cleaner 
looking  men  in  Parkinson's. 

"We  have  better  living  than  I  expected — fresh  and 
salt  beef,  potatoes  and  rice — and  all  cooked  in  the  finest 
style;  but  I  cannot  like  the  coffee  as  yet. 

"They  have  just  brought  two  men  aboard  and  taken 
the  Dutchmen  off.  This  is  the  last  letter  that  I  shall 
have  a  chance  to  send  till  we  get  to  Melbourne,  where 
I  hope  there  will  be  letters  awaiting  me." 

April  10. 
"We  have  just  been  heaving  the  cable  short  and  shall 
be  ready  as  soon  as  the  tow  boat  comes.     I  hope  that 
by  this  time  Morrie  [his  baby  brother]  is  well.     I  could 

1  When  a  boy,  his  mother  would  frequently  buy  a  piece  of  sweet  suet 
and  melting  it  down,  would  mix  with  its  oil  or  fat  a  little  bergamot,  there- 
by making  a  pomade  for  the  hair.  Henry  George  never  during  his  life 
liked  fats  with  his  meat  at  the  table,  and  at  times  would  say  in  the  fam- 
ily that  it  was  because  when  a  boy  he  had  to  put  it  on  his  head.  Not- 
withstanding the  use  of  the  hair  preparation,  he  and  all  his  brothers 
followed  their  father  and  grew  bald  early. 


Age,  16-17]  SHIP   PUTS   TO   SEA  23 

spin  out  four  or  five  pages,  but  I  have  not  time.  I 
would  have  written  a  great  many  more  letters,  but  could 
not.  When  you  read  this  letter  you  must  remember 
where  it  was  written — on  the  top  of  my  chest  in  the 
after  house  (where  I  sleep,  along  with  Jim,  the  carpen- 
ter and  the  cook).  I  have  to  dip  my  pen  into  the 
bottle  at  almost  every  word.  Good-bye  father  and 
mother,  aunts  and  uncles,  brothers  and  sisters,  cousins 
and  friends.  God  bless  you  all  and  may  we  all  meet 
again. 

"P.  S.  I   have   received   letters   from    Martha    Curry 
and  George  Latimer  and  shall  reply  the  first  chance." 

9.30  A.  M. 
"We  are  now  going  down  the  bay  in  tow  of  a  steam- 
boat and  shall  soon  be  at  sea.  I  shall  get  the  captain  to 
send  this  ashore  by  the  pilot.  God  bless  you  all.  It  is 
cloudy  and  drizzling — blows  a  stiff  breeze  from  the 
south. 

"Good-bye, 

"Henry  George." 

So  it  was  that  the  Hindoo,  a  full-rigged  ship  of  586  tons 
register — a  very  large  ship  at  that  time^ — with  500,000 
feet  of  lumber  aboard  and  a  crew  of  twenty  men,  all  told, 
started  on  her  long  voyage;  and  as  she  glided  down  the 
bay  and  through  the  "Narrows"  on  her  way  to  the  ocean, 
on  the  left  bank,  eighty  feet  above  the  water,  stood  an 
old  white  house  that  forty  years  later,  when  his  fame  had 
spread  through  the  world,  was  to  become  Henry  George's 
home  and  witness  the  end  of  his  career.  But  the  boy, 
all  unconscious  of  this,  had  been  set  to  work,  as  he  says 
in  his  sea  journal,  "in  company  with  the  other  boys  to 

^  "In  the  last  generation  a  full-rigged  Indiaman  would  be  considered  a 
very  large  vessel  if  she  registered  .500  tons.  Now  we  are  building  coast- 
ing schooners  of  1000  tons" — "Social  Problems,"  Chap.  V.  (Memorial 
edition,  p.  46.) 


24  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

picking  oakum  for  the  carpenter,  who  was  busy  fastening 
and  calking  the  hatches," 

This  Journal  or  log,  covers  most  of  the  voyage,  and 
with  the  few  letters  that  still  exist,  and  an  account  of 
the  passage  written  by  Captain  Miller  for  his  friend, 
George  Latimer,  furnishes  pretty  full  and  clear  informa- 
tion as  to  this  important  formative  period.  The  journal 
consists  of  an  original  in  two  parts  and  three  incomplete 
fair  copies.  The  original  parts  are  quite  rough  and  show 
marks  of  wear  and  stains  of  water.  One  is  of  white,  the 
other  of  blue,  unruled,  large  sized  letter  paper,  folded  so 
as  to  make  neat  pages  of  four  by  six  inches,  and  stitched 
together  with  heavy  linen  thread,  such  as  might  have  been 
used  in  sewing  sails.  The  entries  are  mostly  in  pencil, 
the  spelling  not  of  the  best,  and  the  writing  not  uniform 
— in  some  places  quite  faint — ^but  generally  small,  con- 
densed, round  and  clear.  The  fair  copies  are  in  a  fine 
state  of  preservation.  They  are  written  in  large,  bold 
hand  in  commercial  blank  books  and  the  spelling  is  cor- 
rect. Two  of  them  may  have  been  copied  while  at  sea, 
but  the  fullest  and  best  looking  one  was  doubtless  writ- 
ten in  Philadelphia  after  the  voyage.^ 

From  Captain  Miller's  account  it  appears  that  when  the 
Hindoo  cast  off  the  tug  that  was  taking  her  to  sea,  the 
wind  was  from  the  south-east  and  right  ahead,  and  the 
pilot  advised  him  to  anchor  at  Sandy  Hook;  "but,"  says 
the  Captain,  "we  could  not  wait.  We  set  all  sail  and 
stood  E.N.E.  until  we  saw  the  rocks  of  Long  Island. 
We  then  tacked  to  the  south'd  and  stood  down  until  we 
were  abreast  the  Capes  of  Delaware.     Then  a  gale  of  wind 

1  In  the  back  pages  of  this  little  journal  are  some  historical,  scientific 
and  other  notes  probably  made  while  reading.  These  bear  date  as  late  as 
April,  1859,  at  which  time  its  owner  was  in  California. 


From  daguerreotype  taken  March  31,  1855, 
just  before  going  to  sea. 


Age,  16-17]  THE  SEA  JOURNAL  25 

from  the  north-west  commenced,  lasting  four  days;  dur- 
ing which  time  we  made  good  progress  off  the  coast." 
The  boy's  log  for  these  four  days  runs  as  follows : 

"Tues.  10,  .  .  .  About  12  a.m.  we  passed  Sandy 
Hook,  and  a  slight  breeze  springing  up,  set  all  fore  and 
aft  sail.  About  3  p.m.  discharged  the  tow  boat  and 
pilot.  Soon  after  I  began  to  feel  sea-sick,  and  the 
breeze  dying  away,  the  tossing  of  the  vessel  very  much 
increased  it.  .  .  .  After  supper  all  hands  were 
called  aft  and  the  watches  chosen.  I  was  taken  by  the 
mate  for  the  larboard.  ...  It  being  the  larboard 
watch's  first  watch  below,  I  turned  in  at  8  p.m. 

"Wed.  11.  I  was  roused  out  of  a  sound  sleep  at 
13  o'clock  to  come  on  deck  and  keep  my  watch.  On 
turning  out  I  found  a  great  change  in  the  weather. 
The  wind  had  shifted  to  N.W.  and  came  out  cold  and 
fierce.  The  ship  was  running  dead  before  it  in  a  S.E. 
direction,  making  about  8  or  9  knots  an  hour.  After 
keeping  a  cold  and  dreary  watch  until  4  a.m.  we  were 
relieved  and  I  was  enabled  to  turn  in  again.  All  this 
day  sea-sick  by  spells.  ...  It  will  be  a  long  time 
before  we  are  in  this  part  of  the  world  again,  home- 
ward bound.  Twelve  months  seem  as  if  they  would 
never  pass.  In  the  afternoon  all  hands  were  engaged 
in  getting  the  anchors  on  the  forecastle  and  securing 
them  for  a  long  passage.  The  colour  of  the  sea  is 
green  on  sounding,  the  shade  varying  according  to  the 
depth  of  water,  and  a  beautiful  blue  outside,  and  so 
very  clear  that  objects  can  be  seen  at  a  great"  depth. 

"Thurs.  12.  A  brisk  breeze  all  day  from  N.W.  with 
frequent  showers  of  rain.  Numbers  of  Stormy  Petrels 
or  Mother  Carey's  Chickens  hovering  about  the  quar- 
ter.    Weather  rather  cool. 

"Fri.  13.  A  fine  bright  day;  wind  still  the  same. 
Hoisting  the  lower  stun'sail  in  the  forenoon,  the  hal- 
yards parted,  and  the  sail  was  with  difficulty  secured. 
The  sea-sickness  has  now  entirely  left  me." 


26  LIFE  OF   HENEY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

The  old  ship  after  twenty-five  years  of  hard  service 
was  pretty  nearly  worn  out,  and  the  log  reveals  a  series 
of  breakages,  and  some  consequent  accidents. 

"Sat.  14.  Commenced  with  fine  clear  weather  and 
brisk  breeze  from  N.W.  About  5.30  a.m.,  the  larboard 
watch  being  on  deck,  the  tiller  of  the  rudder  suddenly 
broke  in  half.  All  hands  were  immediately  called  and 
everything  let  go  and  clewed  up.  Tackles  were  got  on 
the  rudder  and  the  ship  steered  by  them,  while  the  car- 
penter immediately  set  to  work  on  a  new  one.  While 
furling  the  main  top-gallant  sail  a  man  belonging  to  the 
larboard  watch,  John  Prentz  by  name,  fell  from  the 
yard  to  the  deck.  Luckily  the  main  topsail,  which  was 
clewed  up,  broke  his  fall,  or  he  would  certainly  have 
been  killed.  On  taking  him  forward,  his  arm  was  found 
to  have  been  broken  in  three  places,  but  otherwise  he 
had  sustained  no  serious  injury.  His  arm  was  set  and 
bandaged  by  the  mate.  The  carpenter  finished  the  til- 
ler about  4  P.M.,  when,  everything  being  replaced,  sail 
was  again  made  on  the  ship  and  she  continued  on  her 
course  with  a  fair,  though  light  wind.  The  old  tiller 
which  had  suddenly  broken,  and  which  outwardly  ap- 
peared so  firm  and  sound,  was  in  the  centre  completely 
rotted  away.  .  .  .  The  account  which  the  man  who 
fell  from  aloft  gave  of  his  mishap  when  he  had  recov- 
ered his  senses  was  that  he  was  pulling  on  the  gasket 
with  both  hands  when  it  suddenly  parted  and  he  was 
precipitated  backwards.  He  knew  no  more  until  he 
found  himself  in  the  forecastle  with  his  arm  ban- 
daged up." 

The  fifteenth  of  April  is  noted  in  the  log  as  the  "first 
Sunday  at  sea,"  and  that  instead  of  being  seated  in  St. 
Paul's  Church,  they  were  "ploughing  the  ocean  a  thousand 
miles  away."  Soon  the  entries  take  more  of  the  formal 
aspect  of  a  ship's  log  and  less  of  a  personal  journal, 
though  once  in  a  while  they  relax  into  general  observation 


Age,  16-17]  HARD  TACK  AND  SEA  PIE  27 

and  fancy.  On  May  3,  for  instance,  the  ship,  lying  in 
a  dead  calm,  was  surrounded  by  a  large  school  of  dol- 
phins, which  presented  "a.  most  beautiful  appearance  in 
the  water,  changing  to  brilliant  colours  as  they  swam  from 
place  to  place."  On  May  24  calms  and  light  airs,  with 
this  entry : 

"At  8.30  A.M.  the  mate  succeeded  in  striking  one  of 
the  porpoises  which  were  playing  under  the  bows.  The 
fish  was  immediately  run  up  to  the  bowsprit  end  by  all 
hands,  when  a  running  bowline  was  put  around  his 
tail  and  he  was  hauled  inboard,  where  he  was  soon  de- 
spatched and  dissected.  We  had  a  sort  of  hash  of  his 
flesh  for  supper,  which  was  very  palatable,  and  the  rest 
was  hung  up  to  the  topsail  sheets,  where  it  spoiled  in 
the  moonlight."  ^ 

Thoughts  kept  reverting  to  home,  and  there  is  more 
than  one  entry  like:  "Would  have  given  anything  to  have 
been  back  to  breakfast."     Then  came  the  Fourth  of  July : 

i"In  later  years  I  have  sometimes  'supped  wdth  Lucullus,'  without 
recalling  what  he  gave  me  to  eat,  whereas  I  remember  to  this  day  ham 
and  eggs  of  my  first  breakfast  on  a  canal-packet  drawn  by  horses  that 
actually  trotted;  how  sweet  hard-tack,  munched  in  the  middle  watch 
while  the  sails  slept  in  the  trade-wind,  has  tasted;  what  a  dish  for  a 
prince  was  sea-pie  on  the  rare  occasions  when  a  pig  had  been  killed  or  a 
porpoise  harpooned;  and  how  good  was  the  plum-duff  that  came  to  the  fore- 
castle only  on  Sundays  and  great  holidays.  I  remember  as  though  it  were 
an  hour  ago,  that,  talking  to  myself  rather  than  to  him,  I  said  to  a  York- 
shire sailor  on  my  first  voyage:  'I  wish  I  were  home,  to  get  a  piece  of 
pie.'  I  recall  his  expression  and  tone,  for  they  shamed  me,  as  he  quietly 
said:  'Are  you  sure  you  would  find  a  piece  of  pie  there? '  Thoughtless 
as  the  French  princess  who  asked  why  the  people  who  were  crying  for 
bread  did  not  try  cake,  '  Home  '  was  associated  in  my  mind  with  pie  of 
some  sort  —  apple  or  peach  or  sweet-potato  or  cranberry  or  mince— to  be 
had  for  the  taking,  and  I  did  not  for  the  moment  realise  that  in  many 
homes  pie  was  as  rare  a  luxury  as  plums  in  our  sea-dutf." — "The  Science 
of  Political  Economy,"  p.  352. 


28  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-185G 

"Wed.  July  4.  Commenced  with  a  fresh  breeze  from 
N.  At  5  A.M.  wind  died  away ;  at  8  a.m.  came  out  from 
S.  At  12  M.  double  reefed  topsails  and  single  reefed 
mainsail.  During  the  rest  of  the  day  showery.  Lat. 
33  S.,  Ion.  6  W.  At  12  o'clock  last  night  the  day  was 
ushered  in  by  three  discharges  from  a  small  swivel, 
which  made  a  great  deal  of  noise,  rousing  up  all  who 
were  asleep.  As  soon  as  the  smoke  cleared  away  and 
the  dead  and  wounded  were  mustered,  it  was  found  that 
it  had  not  been  without  execution,  all  the  glass  on  one 
side  of  the  house  being  shattered  (a  loss  not  easily  re- 
paired) a  port  blown  out;  and  the  waddings  (made  of 
rope  yarn,  and  very  hard)  had  passed,  one  through  the 
head  of  the  new  water  cask,  and  another  through  the 
new  foretopsail,  which  had  not  been  bent  a  week.  The 
wind,  which  had  been  strong  from  aft  the  day  before, 
during  the  middle  watch  died  away  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  calm  until  8  a.m.,  when  a  stiff  breeze  from  the 
South  sprang  up,  accompanied  by  showers  of  rain.  At 
12  M.  all  hands  were  called  to  reef.  While  reefing  the 
foretopsail  the  parrel  of  the  yard  gave  way,  causing  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  and  keeping  all  hands  from  din- 
ner. It  was  2.30  P.M.  before  our  watch  got  below  td 
their  plum-duff,  which  had  been  allowed  in  honour  of 
the  day.  The  rest  of  the  day  was  rainy,  with  wind 
constantly  varying,  keeping  us  hauling  on  the  braces. 
Thus  closed  the  most  miserable  4th  of  July  that  I  have 
ever  yet  spent." 

On  the  ninety-seventh  day  out  the  Hindoo  passed  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  though  far  to  the  south  of  it,  and 
entered  the  Indian  Ocean.  Thence  to  Port  Philip  (Mel- 
bourne) came  a  succession  of  gales  from  the  westward, 
with  heavy  squalls  of  hail  and  rain,  but  the  ship  driving 
before  them  made  good  progress. 

"Sun.  Aug.  12.  Commenced  with  cloudy  weather  and 
stiff  breeze.  At  6  a.m.  shook  a  reef  out  of  topsails 
and  set  topgallant  sails,  but  at  12  m.,  wind  increasing 


Age,  1G-17J  FIRST   AUSTRALIAN   LAND  29 

and  barometer  falling,  (although  the  sun  shone  brightly 
and  gave  promise  of  a  fine  afternoon)  furled  topgallant- 
sails  and  close-reefed  topsails.  At  4  p.m.,  blowing  a 
heavy  gale  from  W.  by  N.,  furled  mizzen  topsails  and 
reefed  foresail.  At  8  p.m.,  v^^ind  increasing,  furled  fore 
topsail.  During  the  night  tremendous  squalls  of  wind 
and  hail.  Ship  constantly  heaving  water  on  deck,  one 
sea  which  she  took  in  at  the  waist  running  completely 
aft  and  filling  the  cabin  with  water. 

"Mon.  Aug.  13.  Strong  gales  from  W.  with  heavy 
squalls  of  hail  and  rain.  Weather  very  cold,  the  hail 
sometimes  covering  the  deck.  Looked  more  like  win- 
ter than  any  weather  we  have  yet  experienced.  It  is 
impossible  to  describe  the  wildly  grand  appearance  of 
the  sea  and  sky." 

At  last,  on  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-seventh  day  out 
from  New  York,  the  first  land  of  Australia  was  sighted, 
and  with  that  flamed  up  the  desire  of  the  crew  to  get 
ashore  and  strike  out  straight  for  the  gold  districts,  where 
men  with  little  more  equipment  than  pick  and  pan  were, 
so  far  as  the  sailors'  knowledge  went,  still  washing  for- 
tunes out  of  the  soil. 

"Fri.  Aug.  24.  Commenced  with  strong  wind  from 
N".  Furled  jib.  At  4  a.m.  wind  hauled  to  N.W.  Course 
N.E.  At  4.30  A.M.  hove  the  lead,  without  soundings  at 
60  fathoms.  When  daylight  came  at  last  the  anxiously 
looked  for  land  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Squally  and 
showery,  with  very  hazy  weather.  At  6  a.m.  shook  a 
reef  out  of  main  topsail.  Two  coasting  schooners  in 
sight  steering  about  E.N.E.  At  10.30  a.m.  I  had  just 
turned  in,  having  given  up  all  hope  of  seeing  land  to- 
day, when  all  hands  were  called  to  close  reef  main  top- 
sail and  furl  mainsail.  While  reefing  the  main  topsail 
we  were  agreeably  surprised  by  the  joyful  sound  of 
'Land  ho !'  from  the  second  mate,  who  was  at  the  weather 
earing.  'Where  away?'  shouted  the  captain.  'Eight 
ahead/  was  the  reply;  and  sure  enough  there  lay  the 


30  LITE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

long  looked  for  land  directly  before  us,  looming  above 
the  horizon  like  a  dark  blue  cloud,  the  first  solid  ground 
we  had  looked  upon  for  137  days.  By  the  time  we 
[the  larboard  watch]  turned  out,  12  noon,  we  were  about 
2  miles  distant,  running  along  the  land.  Our  captain 
had  hit  the  exact  spot,  Cape  Otway,  the  light  house  on 
which  was  now  plainly  to  be  seen.  After  dinner  all 
hands  turned  to  get  the  anchors  over  the  bows.  It 
was  a  beautiful  afternoon.  The  clouds,  which  in  the 
morning  had  obscured  the  sun,  had  now  vanished.  The 
ship  was  sailing  smoothly  along  before  the  wind  at  the 
rate  of  4  or  5  knots.  Numerous  birds,  a  species  of  Al- 
batross, were  flying  around  us,  now  and  then  darting 
down  after  a  fish.  The  land  was  high  and  apparently 
thickly  wooded,  and  although  winter  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  presented  a  beautiful,  green  appearance.  It  was 
looked  upon  by  most  of  the  crew  as  the  Land  of  Prom- 
ise, where  gold  was  to  be  had  by  all;  and  most  of  the 
men  were  engaged  in  laying  out  what  they  would  do, 
and  where  they  would  go,  and  how  they  would  spend 
their  money  when  they  got  it.  While  getting  the  an- 
chors over,  one  of  the  small  coasters  which  we  had  seen 
in  the  morning  passed  our  bows  under  a  press  of  sail, 
and  stood  in  closer  to  the  land.  At  6  p.m.  we  furled 
the  mizzen  topsail,  and  at  8  p.m.  backed  the  main  top- 
sail and  laid  to  all  night." 

Next  day  they  took  a  pilot  and  at  3  p.  m.  cast  anchor 
in  Hobson's  Bay,  opposite  the  Light  house.  Several 
American  ships,  some  that  had  sailed  before  and  some 
after  the  Hindoo,  were  also  at  anchor  there.^     Times  were 

1  ••Thirty  years  ago  ship-building  had  reached  such  a  pitch  of  excellence 
in  this  country  that  we  built  not  only  for  ourselves,  but  for  other  nations. 
American  ships  were  the  fastest  sailers,  the  largest  carriers  and  everywhere 
got  the  quickest  dispatch  and  the  highest  freights.  The  registered  ton- 
nage of  the  United  States  almost  equalled  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  a  few 
years  promised  to  give  us  the  unquestionable  supremacy  of  the  ocean. "' 
— "Protection  or  Free  Trade,"  chap.  XVIII.  (Memorial  Edition,  p. 
186).     Caj)taiu  Marryat,  a  by  no  means  flattering  critic  of  Americans, 


Age,  16-17] 


LAND  OP  PROMISE  31 


reported  to  be  "very  hard  ashore,  thousands  with  nothing 
to  do  and  nothing  to  eat."  Notwithstanding  this,  the 
crew  wished  at  once  to  get  away. 

"As  the  captain  was  getting  into  a  boat  to  go  ashore, 
the  men  came  aft  in  a  body  and  requested  their  dis- 
charge, which  being  refused,  they  declared  their  inten- 
tion of  doing  no  more  work.  After  supper  the  mate 
came  forward  and  ordered  the  men  to  pick  anchor 
watches,  which  they  agreed  to  do  after  some  parley. 
The  mate  told  Jim  and  me  to  keep  watch  in  the  cabin 
until  12  and  then  call  him.  This  I  did  until  10,  when, 
after  having  a  feast  of  butter,  sugar  and  bread  in  the 
pantry,  I  turned  in,  leaving  Jim  to  call  the  mate." 

For  several  days  the  men  refused  to  work,  demanding 
to  see  the  American  Consul,  and  on  Wednesday,  four  days 
after  casting  anchor,  the  captain  got  the  Consul  aboard. 
The  Consul  "took  his  seat  on  the  booby  hatch  with  the 
shipping  articles  before  him,"  and  called  up  the  crew  one 
by  one.  He  finally  "told  the  men  that,  as  the  passage 
would  not  be  up  until  the  cargo  was  discharged,  he  could 
do  nothing  until  that  time;  but  that  Dutch  John  (the 
man  who  in  the  early  part  of  the  passage  fell  from  the 
main  topgallant  yard)  was  entitled  to  his  discharge  if  he 
wished  it."  The  captain  then  promised  that  if  they  would 
"remain  by  the  ship  until  she  was  discharged,  he  would 
pay  them  their  wages  and  let  them  go  in  peace."  They 
demanded  this  in  writing,  saying  that  he  might  change 
his  mind,  "but  the  captain  refused  to  give  them  any  fur- 
in  his  "Diary  in  America"  (First  Series),  Philadelphia,  1839,  says,  p.  186: 
"It  appears,  then,  that  from  various  causes,  our  merchant  vessels  have 
lost  their  sailing  properties,  whilst  the  Americans  have  the  fastest  sailers 
in  the  world;  and  it  is  for  that  reason,  and  no  other,  that,  although  sail- 
ing at  a  much  greater  expense,  the  Americans  can  afford  to  outbid  us,  and 
take  all  our  best  seamen." 


32  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

ther  guarantee  than  his  word."  As  they  still  desisted 
from  work  on  the  Hindoo,  they  were  taken  off  in  a  police 
boat,  and  sentenced  to  one  month's  hard  labour  in  the 
prison  ship,  at  the  end  of  which  time,  still  refusing  to 
work,  they  would  perhaps  have  been  sentenced  to  fur- 
ther imprisonment  if  the  captain  had  not  reached  court 
too  late  to  appear  against  them.  Before  he  sailed,  the 
captain  had  to  ship  a  new  crew. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  journal  to  indicate  that  the 
boy  thought  Captain  Miller  unjust,  but  the  incident  made 
an  indelible  impression,  revealing  the  tremendous  powers 
for  tyranny  the  navigation  laws  put  into  the  hands  of  a 
captain,  and  this  was  to  inspire  a  remarkable  fight  for 
sailor's  rights  in  years  to  come.^ 

The  ship  lay  in  Hobson's  Bay  twenty-nine  days  dis- 
charging chargo  and  taking  in  ballast.  Captain  Miller  in 
his  account  says:  "Harry  went  up  to  Melbourne  once,  but 
did  not  see  much  to  admire."  Perhaps  the  boy  saw  more 
than  the  captain  realised,  for  thirty-five  years  later,  in 
a  speech  in  Melbourne,  he  said,  that  he  had  a  vivid  recol- 
lection of  it — "its  busy  streets,  its  seemingly  continuous 
auctions,  its  crowds  of  men  with  flannel  shirts  and  long 
high  hoots,  its  bay  crowded  with  ships."  No  letters  writ- 
ten from  there  now  exist,  but  it  is  clear  that  the  Australia 
of  his  dreams  did  not  appear  to  be  such  a  wonderful  place 
after  all;  that  there  M^as  not  much  gold  in  sight  and  that 
in  this  respect  the  "Land  of  Promise"  was  something  of 
a  disappointment.  Land  monopolisation  and  speculation 
had  set  in  and  cut  off  the  poor  man's  access  to  nature's 
storehouse. 

Other  dreams  were  to  be  dissipated  on  reaching  India. 
The  best  description  of  the  passage  and  arrival  there  is 

^  Sunrise  Case  in  San  Francisco. 


Age,  iG-17]  PUTS  TO  SEA  AGAIN  33 

found  in  a  letter  to  his  father  and  mother,  dated  Cal- 
cutta, December  12,  1855. 

"We  hove  up  anchor  in  Hobson's  Bay  about  11  o'clock 
on  the  24th  of  September,  made  sail,  proceeded  down 
the  bay  under  charge  of  a  pilot,  and  at  about  5  p.m. 
passed  the  heads  and  discharged  the  pilot.  After  leav- 
ing Port  Philip  and  until  we  had  rounded  Cape  Lewin 
we  had  strong  winds,  mostly  head,  and  cool  weather. 
.  .  .  Then  the  wearier  gradually  became  milder  as 
we  got  to  the  northward,  with  fair,  though  not  very 
strong  winds.  Near  the  line  we  had  light  airs,  not 
even  sufficient  to  fill  the  sails,  but  under  the  pressure 
of  which  the  ship  would  go  two  or  three  miles  per  hour. 
We  crossed  the  line  November  5,  when  42  days  out. 
.  .  .  From  this  place  until  we  arrived  at  about  10" 
north  we  had  the  same  fair  airs  as  on  the  other  side 
of  the  line,  with  every  prospect  of  a  short  passage. 
Then  the  wind  became  stronger  and  more  variable,  but 
dead  ahead.  It  would  seldom  blow  from  one  point  of 
the  compass  for  more  than  an  hour.  Indeed,  it  seemed 
as  if  a  second  Jonah  was  aboard,  for  tack  as  often  as 
we  would,  the  wind  was  sure  to  head  us  off.  .  .  . 
Progress  under  the  circumstances  was  impossible.  For 
over  a  week  we  did  not  gain  a  single  inch  to  the  north- 
ward. What  she  would  make  one  hour  she  would  lose 
the  next.  During  this  time  the  weather  was  delight- 
ful, warm  without  being  uncomfortably  so,  and  so  pleas- 
ant that  sleeping  on  deck  could  be  practised  with  im- 
punity. 

"At  length  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  November 
the  colour  of  the  water  suddenly  changed  to  green, 
and  by  noon  we  were  abreast  of  the  lightship,  which 
marks  the  outer  pilot  station.  The  tide  was  running 
so  strongly  that  with  the  light  air  we  could  hardly  hold 
our  own  against  it.  About  3  p.m.,  in  obedience  to  a 
signal  from  the  pilot  brig,  we  cast  anchor  with  30  fath- 
oms of  chain,  furled  all  sail,  and  cleared  up  decks  for 
the  night.  At  8  p.m.  set  anchor-watch  and  turned  in 
for  all  night.     .     .     ." 


34  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

Then  came  the  first  impressions  of  the  country — im- 
pressions that  always  afterward  remained  vivid  and  helped 
before  long  to  direct  thought  to  social  questions;  that 
changed  the  fancied  India — the  place  of  dreamy  luxury, 
of  soft  and  sensuous  life — into  the  real  India,  with  its 
extremes  of  light  and  shadow,  of  poverty  and  riches,  of 
degradation  and  splendour;  where  the  few  have  so  much, 
the  many  so  little;  where  jewels  blaze  in  the  trappings  of 
elephants,  but  where,  as  he  has  since  said  in  talking  with 
his  son  Richard,  "the  very  carrion  birds  are  more  sacred 
than  human  life !"  These  impressions  are  preserved  in  a 
description  of  the  trip  to  Calcutta  up  the  Hooghly  branch 
of  the  Ganges  River  scribbled  in  pencil  on  the  back  pages 
of  one  of  the  journal  records. 


Arrival  at  Garden  Reach  and  First 
Impressions  of  the  Town. 

"Mon.  Dec.  3.  We  turned  out  about  3  a.m.  and  after 
some  heavy  heaving  got  up  anchor.  About  5  a.m.  we 
were  taken  in  tow  by  the  steamer  and  proceeded  up  the 
river.  The  night  air  was  misty  and  chilly  and  a  mon- 
key jacket  proved  very  comfortable.  The  day  soon  be- 
gan to  break,  revealing  a  beautiful  scene.  The  river, 
at  times  very  broad  and  again  contracting  its  stream 
into  a  channel  hardly  large  enough  for  a  ship  of  aver- 
age size  to  turn  in,  was  bordered  by  small  native  vil- 
lages, surrounded  by  large  fruit  trees,  through  which 
the  little  bamboo  huts  peeped.  As  we  advanced,  the 
mists  which  had  hitherto  hung  over  the  river  cleared 
away,  affording  a  more  extensive  prospect.  The  water 
was  covered  with  boats  of  all  sizes,  very  queer  looking 
to  the  eye  of  an  American.  They  were  most  of  them 
bound  to  Calcutta  with  the  produce  and  rude  manu- 
factures of  the  country — bricks,  tiles,  earths,  pots,  etc. 
They  had  low  bows  "^ and  very  high  sterns.  They  were 
pulled  by  from  four  to  ten  men,  and  steered  by  an  old 


Age,  16-17]  DEAD  BODIES  FLOATING  35 

fellow  wrapped  up  in  a  sort  of  cloth,  seated  on  a  high 
platform  at  the  stern.  Some  had  sails  to  help  them 
along,  in  which  there  were  more  holes  than  threads. 
On  the  banks  the  natives  began  to  go  to  their  daily  toil, 
some  driving  cattle  along,  others  loading  boats  with 
grain,  while  the  women  seemed  busy  with  their  domes- 
tie  affairs.  As  we  approached  the  city,  the  banks  on 
both  sides  were  lined  with  handsome  country  residences 
of  the  wealthy  English.  About  10  a.m.  we  came  to 
Garden  Reach,  where,  as  there  was  no  Harbour  Master's 
Assistant  ready  to  take  us  up,  we  were  obliged  to  drop 
both  anchors.  After  getting  fairly  moored  we  had  a 
little  time  to  look  around  us.  The  river  which  here 
takes  a  sudden  bend,  was  crowded  with  ships  of  all 
nations,  and  above  nothing  could  be  seen  but  a  forest 
of  masts.  On  the  right  hand  or  Calcutta  side,  are  the 
„East  India  Company's  works,  for  repairing  their  steam- 
ers, numbers  of  which,  principally  iron,  were  under- 
going repairs.  On  the  other  side  was  an  immense  pal- 
ace-like structure  (the  residence,  I  believe,  of  some 
wealthy  Englishman)  surrounded  by  beautiful  lawns 
and  groves.  The  river  was  covered  with  boats  and  pre- 
sented a  bustling  scene.  One  feature  which  is  peculiar 
to  Calcutta  was  the  number  of  dead  bodies  floating  down 
in  all  stages  of  decomposition,  covered  by  crows  who 
were  actively  engaged  in  picking  them  to  pieces.  The 
first  one  I  saw  filled  me  with  horror  and  disgust,  but 
like  the  natives,  you  soon  cease  to  pay  any  attention  to 
them. 

"Tues.  Dec.  4.  About  4.30  a.m.  the  Harbour  Master 
came  along  side  and  we  were  roused  up  to  get  up  an- 
chors, ...  It  astonished  me  to  see  with  what  ease 
the  pilot  took  the  vessel  up  .  .  .  steering  her 
amidst  the  maze  of  vessels  as  easily  as  if  she  was 
at  sea.  The  port  seemed  crowded  with  vessels,  a  large 
proportion  of  them  American,  some  of  which  I  recog- 
nised as  having  seen  at  Philadelphia.  At  length  about 
10  A.M.  we  cast  anchor  off  our  intended  moorings. 
About  2  P.M.  we  hauled  in  and  made  fast  along  side  of 
an  English  clipper,  the  British  Lion.  After  getting 
all  fast  we  had  dinner  and  cleared  up  decks  and  squared 
the  yards.'' 


36  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

While  the  ship  lay  at  her  moorings,  visits  were  made 
to  Barrapore,  eighteen  miles  away,  and  other  places  of 
interest  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  boy  saw  those  things  that 
are  observed  generally  by  travellers.  But  the  event  of 
perhaps  most  interest  to  him  was  the  receipt  on  December 
10  of  letters  from  home — the  first  since  he  had  left.  His 
father  sent  family  news  and  said:  "Your  little  brig  is 
safely  moored  on  the  mantelpiece.  First  thing  when  we 
wake,  our  eyes  rest  upon  her,  and  she  reminds  us  of  our 
dear  sailor  boy." 

The  mother's  letter  also  touched  on  family  matters,  but 
gave  chief  place  to  other  things  engaging  her  devout  mind. 

"And  now  for  the  news.  The  best  news  just  now  is 
the  religious  news — a  great  work  going  on  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  and  all  the  principal  cities  of  the 
Union;  prayer-meetings  all  over  the  land;  all  denomi- 
nations uniting  together  in  solemn,  earnest  prayer; 
Jayne's  Hall  (you  know  its  size)  is  crowded  to  excess, 
even  those  large  galleries  literally  packed  with  men  of 
the  highest  respectability — merchants,  bankers,  brokers, 
all  classes.  Those  who  have  never  entered  a  church 
and  have  hitherto  scoffed  at  religion  meet  at  this  prayer- 
meeting  every  day  to  hear  the  word  of  God  read  and 
solemn  prayer  offered  for  their  conversion.  ...  I 
might  fill  many  pages  to  show  you  that  this  is  truly 
the  work  of  God — the  out-pouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
.  .  .  That  same  Holy  Influence  will  be  given  to  all 
that  ask  for  it  in  simple  faith:  'Lord,  teach  me  to 
pray.' " 

The  event  to  the  lad  next  in  interest  to  the  receipt  of 
home  letters  was  the  acquisition  of  a  pet  monkey,  of  which 
he  wrote  in  later  years  :^ 

1"  The  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  p.  30. 


Heury  George's  mother  aud  sister  Jeuuie. 
From  (.laijuerreotjiiie  fakrn  (d/oiit  1850. 


Age,  16-17]  A  PET   MONKEY  37 

"I  bought  in  Calcutta,  when  a  boy,  a  monkey,  which 
all  the  long  way  home  would  pillow  her  little  head  on 
mine  as  I  slept,  and  keep  off  my  face  the  cockroaches 
that  infested  the  old  Indiaman  by  catching  them  with 
her  hands  and  cramming  them  into  her  maw.  When 
I  got  her  home,  she  was  so  jealous  of  a  little  brother 
that  I  had  to  part  with  her  to  a  lady  who  had  no  chil- 
dren." 


In  his  account  of  the  voyage.  Captain  Miller  says  that 
the  ship  left  Calcutta  with  quite  a  menagerie  of  monkeys 
and  birds  aboard,  but  that  before  long  "Harry's  was  the 
only  survivor."  The  others  died  or  got  away,  two  of  the 
sailors  withovit  intentional  cruelty  throwing  theirs  over- 
board to  see  "which  would  swim  ashore  first,"  but  the 
animals  quickly  drowned.  The  boy  cherished  his  little 
creature  most  fondly;  though  for  that  matter  he  always 
showed  a  warm  love  for  animals,  and  this  was  but  one  of 
a  great  number  that  he  had  about  him  during  his  life. 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1856,  the  Hindoo  having  com- 
pleted her  loading,  consisting  of  nearly  twelve  hundred 
tons  of  rice,  seeds,  etc.,  took  a  new  crew  aboard  and  started 
down  the  river,  homeward  bound.  Henry  George  at  the 
time  estimated  that  he  would  have  when  he  reached  New 
York  and  settled  his  accounts  "about  fifty  dollars  to  take 
clear  of  everything — not  much  for  thirteen  or  fourteen 
months."  The  distance  down  the  Hooghly  from  Calcutta 
to  the  sea  is  eighty  miles,  but  what  with  head  winds,  the 
scarcity  of  tow  boats  and  a  l)roken  windlass,  the  vessel  was 
twenty  days  making  the  passage,  during  which  time  the 
hot  weather  played  havoc  with  the  fresh  provisions,  so  that 
the  crew  was  the  sooner  reduced  to  "salt  horse  and  biscuit." 
Light  winds  blew  down  the  bay  of  Bengal  and  the  ship 
crossed  the  equator  on  the  23rd  of  February.  On  the 
27th  the  cook,   Stephen  Anderson,  fell   sick  and  young 


38  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1855-1856 

George  went  into  the  galley  temporarily.     The  journal 
says: 

"Wed.  Feb.  27.     Cook  laid  up.     Went  into  the  galley. 

"(Not  having  written  down  the  events  of  the  inter- 
vening space,  I  do  not  remember  them  fully,  being 
obliged  to  work  pretty  hard.) 

"Sun.  Mar.  2.  Fine  clear  day.  Breeze  from  S.W., 
course,  S.S.E.  For  several  days  there  have  been  thou- 
sands of  fish  playing  around,  but,  although  the  men 
tried  hard  to  catch  them,  they  were  unsuccessful  until 
this  morning,  when  an  albicore  was  captured.  The 
mate  made  sea-pie  for  all  hands  for  supper.  8  p.m. 
sail  in  sight. 

"Mon.  Mar.  3.  Calm  all  day.  The  cook  so  weak 
that  he  cannot  raise  a  spoon  to  his  mouth.  I  think  it 
a  chance  whether  he  lives. 

"Tues.  Mar.  4.  Calm,  fine  day.  Cook  seems  a  little 
stronger,  but  can  scarcely  speak. 

"Wed.  Mar.  5.  Commenced  with  breeze  from  W.jST.W.  ; 
course  S.S.W.  Four  sail  in  sight.  Last  evening  the 
cook  appeared  a  great  deal  stronger,  getting  up  and 
moving  about,  turning  in  and  out ;  but  still  could  scarce- 
ly speak.  About  7  a.m.  he  was  taken  with  a  fit,  when 
he  was  brought  on  deck  and  laid  by  the  capstan.  About 
11.30  A.M.  he  died.     He  was  sewed  up  and  buried  at 

5  P.M." 

The  cook  having  gone,  the  boy,  to  his  great  satisfac- 
tion, for  he  had  an  extreme  distaste  for  the  task,  was 
superseded  in  the  galley  by  one  of  the  crew,  who  remained 
there  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage.  The  ship  passed  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  on  April  13  and  within  sight  of 
St.  Helena  on  the  27th.  On  May  12  she  crossed  the 
equator  for  the  fourth  time  during  the  voyage.  Long 
before  that  date  the  journal  entries  had  become  short,  and 
after  May  G  stopped  altogether,  possibly  because  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  work  to  do  in  handling,  cleaning, 


Age,  16-17]  HOME  AGAIN  39 

repairing  and  painting  the  ship.     April  opened  with  this 
entry : 

"April  1,  1856.  Lat.,  31,  S. ;  long.,  40,  E.  One  year 
has  passed  since  the  Sunday  when  I  took  farewell  of 
my  friends — to  me  an  eventful  year;  one  that  will 
have  a  great  influence  in  determining  my  position  in 
life ;  perhaps  more  so  than  I  can  at  present  see.  0  that 
I  had  it  to  go  over  again !  Homeward  boimd !  In  a 
few  months  I  hope  to  be  in  Philadelphia  once  more." 

And  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  home,  for  on  June 
14,  after  an  absence  of  one  year  and  sixty-five  days,  and 
from  Calcutta  one  hundred  and  fifty  days,  the  Hindoo 
completed  her  long  journey  and  dropped  anchor  in  New 
York  Bay. 


CHAPTEE   III. 
LEAENS    TO    SET    TYPE. 

1856-1857.  Age,  17-18. 

ON"  getting  back,  home  seemed  very  sweet  to  the  boy  on 
account  of  the  loved  ones  and  comforts,  and  the  asso- 
ciation of  his  boy  friends.  A  year  and  a  half  afterwards, 
when  he  had  gone  to  California,  Jo  Jeffreys,  at  that  time 
the  closest  of  his  friends,  wrote: 

"Don't  you  recollect  our  Byronic  quotations?  Amus- 
ing weren't  they?  And  yet  I  dare  say  we  had  more 
pleasure  in  those  long  moonlight  nights  spent  in  conver- 
sation— in  counsel  and  reflection — than  we  had  in  a 
like  number  of  hours  at  any  other  time.  I  remember 
well,  too,  how  night  after  night  we  sat  together  and 
alone  in  your  little  room,  smoking  slowly  and  looking 
— sometimes  at  the  little  bed  which  was  to  contain  us 
both  and  which  rested  in  a  corner  near  the  door,  at 
the  little  case  of  books  on  the  bureau,  at  the  dim  gas- 
light which  could  so  seldom  be  induced  to  burn  brightly 
and  which  shed  its  dim  light  upon  all  around — and 
then  turning  from  this  picture,  so  familiar  to  me  now 
(though  I  have  never  been  in  that  room  since,  though 
often  in  the  rooms  beneath  it),  and  gazing  upon  each 
other,  would  talk  of  the  present  and  the  future." 

In  this  little  back-attic  bed  room  all  the  boys  at  times 
gathered  and  talked  about  books  or  public  affairs  or  boy- 

40 


Age,  17-18]  EESTEAINTS  OF  HOME  LIFE  41 

ish  amusements,  and  it  was  Henry  George's  habit,  while 
engaging  in  conversation,  to  throw  himself  down  on  his 
bed,  and  frequently  while  the  discourse  was  raging  he 
would  sink  into  placid  slumbers.  It  was  common  enough 
for  the  family  to  see  the  boys  come  down  stairs  alone  and 
hear  the  explanation:  "Oh,  Hen's  asleep  and  we  think  it 
is  time  to  go." 

Thus  the  home  life  had  much  attractiveness  for  young 
George,  yet  he  found  it  full  of  restrictions,  for  with  all 
the  heavy  toil  and  hard  discipline  of  sea  life,  there  was 
during  the  preceding  year  and  a  quarter  complete  free- 
dom of  thought,  and  of  actions,  too,  in  the  hours  off  duty. 
And  now  to  come  back  to  conditions  where  the  most  in- 
nocent of  card-playing  was  regarded  as  an  evil  and  riding 
in  a  public  conveyance  on  Sunday  as  a  desecration  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  made  the  energetic,  masterful  boy,  or  rather 
youth,  for  he  was  now  in  his  eighteenth  year,  see  new 
charms  in  the  sea  life;  and  for  a  time,  all  efforts  failing 
in  the  search  for  employment  ashore,  his  thoughts  reverted 
to  the  water.  Learning  of  this  inclination,  Captain  Mil- 
ler, before  sailing  on  a  new  voyage  in  the  Hindoo,  wrote 
to  him: 

"I  hope  you  will  find  some  agreeable  and  profitable 
employment  before  long.  Take  my  advice  and  never 
go  to  sea.  You  know  of  the  troubles  of  a  sailor's  life 
before  the  mast.  It  never  gets  any  better.  A  second 
mate  leads  proverbially  a  dog's  life.  The  mate's  and 
captain's  are  very  little  better."^ 

1  This  was  probably  the  last  letter  he  received  from  Captain  Miller,  and 
before  the  Hindoo  had  returned  from  her  voyage  and  the  captain  had  run 
on  to  Philadelphia,  Henry  George  had  sailed  for  California,  so  that  they 
never  again  met.  The  captain  died  in  Brooklyn,  in  May,  1877,  in  his 
forty-eighth  year,  and  his  friend.  Rev.  George  A.  Latimer,  Henry  George's 
cousin,  officiating,  was  buried  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  where  Henry 
George  himself,  twenty  years  later,  was  to  rest. 


42  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [185&-1857 

The  boy's  parents  were  most  anxious  not  to  have  him 
again  go  to  sea,  and  at  last  in  the  fall  the  father  through 
his  former  book  publishing  connections  obtained  a  situ- 
ation for  his  son  with  the  printing  firm  of  King  &  Baird, 
at  that  time  one  of  the  important  printing  houses  in 
Philadelphia.  The  father's  idea  in  putting  his  son  there 
was  threefold :  to  keep  the  boy  at  home,  to  give  him  a  trade 
and  to  teach  him  to  spell.  This  latter  short-coming  in 
the  boy  was  very  conspicuous,  requiring  a  second  draft  or 
fair  copy  of  letters  to  insure  the  correct  spelling  of  many 
even  common  words,  as  drafts  of  such  letters  that  have 
survived  show. 

Learning  to  set  type  effected  a  marked  improvement,  and 
the  printer's  experience  later  in  California  perfected  it. 
In  after  years  his  letter-writing  at  times  revealed  lapses 
in  spelling,  but  these,  as  was  manifest  on  the  surface, 
arose  from  habits  of  abstraction. 

This  learning  to  set  type  marked  another  distinct  step 
in  the  education  of  Henry  George  for  his  life  work.  Not 
that  it  lay  so  much  in  tyj^e-setting  itself,  or  in  correcting 
his  spelling;  but  rather  in  bringing  him  into  familiar 
contact  with  another  field  of  human  activity — among  type- 
setters, who,  as  a  class  of  men,  if  they  belong  to  a  trade, 
possess,  as  a  rule,  much  correct  general  information  and 
are  given  to  habits  of  intelligent  thought.  Edmund 
Wallazz,  who  was  a  type-setter  at  King  and  Baird's  in 
1856,  said  in  after  years:  "Henry  George  was  a  remark- 
ably bright  boy,  always  in  discussion  with  the  other  boys 
in  the  office.  He  got  in  the  habit  of  appealing  to  me  (I 
am  seven  or  eight  years  older)  for  support  as  to  his  dates 
and  facts,  historical  and  political."  Thus  through  the 
channel  of  polemics  he  was  acquiring  knowledge  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  and  was  also  learning  to  observe  and  to  present 
his  thoughts.  He  had  a  habit  of  stowing  away  things  in 
his  memory  that  would  have  passed  another — things  that 


Henry  George  when  learning  to  set  type  in  Philadelphia. 
From  daguerreottjpe,  1857. 


Age,  17-18]  TALKING  AGAINST   SLAVERY  43 

in  his  matured  years  often  found  expression  in  his  writ- 
ings. To  this  period  he  assigned  the  first  puzzling  ques- 
tion in  political  economy.  An  old  printer  observed  to 
him  one  day  that  while  in  old  countries  wages  are  low,  in 
new  countries  they  are  always  high.  The  boy  compared 
the  United  States  with  Europe,  and  then  California  and 
Australia  with  Pennsylvania  and  N"ew  York,  and  the  old 
printer's  words  seemed  true  enough,  though  neither  the 
printer  nor  he  could  explain  why.  The  thing  stuck  in 
his  mind  and  kept  rising  for  answer. 

This  propensity  for  investigating  and  arguing  showed 
itself  wherever  he  happened  to  be,  when  with  old  or  with 
young,  abroad  or  at  home.  As  his  Uncle  Joseph  Van 
Dusen  said :  "Henry  is  not  tongue-tied." 

For  years  stories  of  slave  auctions  in  the  South,  fric- 
tion over  the  return  of  runaway  slaves  in  the  Korth,  the 
hot  agitation  of  Garrison  and  Phillips  in  the  East,  and 
conflicts  in  "Bleeding  Kansas"  and  through  the  West  kept 
public  thought  seething.  In  1850  appeared  Mrs.  Stowe's 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  later  arose  the  Eepublican 
party  with  its  anti-slavery  proclivities  and  that  in  1856 
forced  the  issue  and  ran  John  C.  Fremont  for  President. 
Though  James  Buchanan,  the  Democratic  pro-slavery  can- 
didate, was  elected,  the  new  party  had  waged  a  fierce  fight, 
and  four  years  later  was  to  elect  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Young  George  soon  after  returning  from  sea  showed 
a  lively  interest  in  the  slavery  question,  and,  although  his 
father  was  a  Democrat  and  inclined  to  support  Buchanan, 
the  boy  independently  took  the  anti-slavery  side,  which 
he  discussed  with  his  mother.  In  the  interest  of  peace 
and   of   "property   rights,"^   and   doubtless   supported    in 

1  "  I  was  born  in  a  Northern  State,  I  have  never  lived  in  the  South,  I 
am  not  yet  gray;  but  I  well  remember,  as  every  American  of  middle  age  must 
remember,  how  over  and  over  again  I  have  heard  all  questionings  of  slav- 
ery silenced  by  the  declaration  that  the  negroes  were  the  iirojKrty  of  their 


44  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1856-1857 

mind  by  what  she  regarded  as  the  sanction  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, she  upheld  slavery,  not  perhaps  as  a  good  thing  in 
itself,  but  because  of  the  great  cost  of  disestablishment. 
The  mother  in  repeating  this  conversation  in  after  years 
to  her  son's  wife  said  that  in  arguing  she  held  that  the 
hardships  of  slavery  "were  exaggerated,"  for,  "while  some 
of  the  slave  owners  might  be  brutal,  the  majority  were 
not  likely  to  be  so,"  most  of  them  doubtless  being  the  same 
kind  of  "humanely-disposed  people"  as  she  herself.  The 
boy  stoutly  held  to  his  position  and  answered  that  her 
argument  rested  "on  policy,  not  principle"' ;  that  she  spoke 
of  what  slave  owners  "seemed  likely  to  do,"  he  of  what 
they  "could  do";  "for  if  slaves  were  property,  their  mas- 
ters, having  the  right  to  do  what  they  pleased  with  their 
own  property,  could  ill-treat  and  even  kill  them  if  so  dis- 
posed." 

The  argument  seemed  sound  enough  to  the  parents, 
but  the  boy  was  still  a  boy  to  them.  One  night  soon  after 
returning  from  sea  he  came  home  late  and  his  father  re- 
proved him.  The  boy  hotly  said  that  he  was  a  child  no 
longer  and  then  went  off  to  bed.  Eeflection  cooled  the 
father's  anger.  He  realized  that  his  son  was,  in  mind  at 
least,  maturing  to  manhood,  and  that  the  reproof  was  not 
quite  just  or  wise.  He  concluded  that  in  the  morning 
he  would  talk  to  his  son  about  it.  But  when  morning 
came  the  son  was  first  to  speak,  saying  that  he  had  thought 
upon  what  had  happened,  and  that  while  he  regarded  his 
conduct  in  remaining  out  as  in  itself  innocent  enough, 
he  now  recognised  what  he  had  not  before  observed — his 
father's  right  to  object — and  that  being  conscious  of  hav- 
ing been  impudent,  he  asked  his  father's  pardon.     The 

masters,  and  that  to  take  away  a  man's  slave  without  payment  was  as 
much  a  crime  as  to  take  away  his  horse  without  payment." — "The  Land 
Question,"  Chap.  VII.  (Memorial  Edition,  p.  49). 


Age,  17-18]  LEARNS  TO  SET   TYPE  45 

father  strained  his  son  to  his  bosom  and  thereafter  gave 
him  more  domestic  freedom. 

High  strung  and  impetuous,  Henry  George  was  at  this 
period  prone  to  sudden  resolves.  From  September,  1856, 
to  June,  1857,  he  worked  steadily  at  type-setting  at  King 
&  Baird's,  when  one  afternoon,  having  a  quarrel  with  Mr. 
Scott,  foreman  of  the  job-room,  he  left  the  house's  em- 
ploy. When  he  told  of  what  had  happened,  his  father 
found  for  him  an  opening  with  Stavely  &  McCalla,  print- 
ers, who  offered  $2.25  a  week  for  the  first  year,  and  after- 
wards as  much  as  he  could  earn,  providing  he  remained 
until  twenty-one.  The  pay  was  so  small  that  he  hesi- 
tated. Just  then  a  boy  friend,  John  Hasson,  sent  word 
of  a  strike  in  the  "Argus"  newspaper  office.  George  ap- 
plied for  and  obtained  employment.  To  Emma  Curry, 
a  girl  friend,  he  wrote  (June  29,  1857)  explaining  some 
of  these  matters: 

*^I  left  King  and  Baird's  about  two  weeks  and  a  half 
ago.  I  was  learning  nothing  and  making  little  ($2  a 
week)  when  I  left.  The  immediate  cause  of  my  leav- 
ing was  that  I  would  not  quietly  submit  to  the  imposi- 
tions and  domineering  insolence  of  the  foreman  of  the 
room  in  which  I  then  worked.  Week  before  last  I 
worked  on  the  'Daily  Evening  Argus.'  The  foreman 
of  that  paper  and  the  members  of  the  Printers'  Union 
(who  have  full  control  of  the  various  newspaper  offices) 
quarrelled,  and  they  refused  to  work  unless  the  foreman 
was  discharged.  This  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Severns,  re- 
fused to  do,  and  the  consequence  was  that  the  Union 
would  not  allow  any  of  its  members  to  work  on  the 
paper.  The  foreman  had,  therefore,  to  get  printers  who 
did  not  belong  to  the  Union.  I  applied  for  a  situation 
as  a  journeyman  compositor  and  got  it;  but  unluckily 
for  me,  at  the  end  of  the  week  the  Union  had  a  meet- 
ing and  wisely  supported  the  foreman  by  a  large  ma- 
jority.    This  compelled  the  proprietor  to  discharge  us 


46  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1850-1857 

who  were  working  there  at  the  time  and  take  on  the 
Union  men,  who,  having  control  of  the  other  offices, 
could  have  put  him  to  great  inconvenience  had  he  re- 
fused to  do  so. 

"During  the  six  days  I  worked  there  I  made  $9.50, 
the  largest  sum  of  money  I  have  ever  made  in  the  same 
time.  I  had  also  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  I  was 
but  very  little  inferior  to  any  of  the  journeymen,  my 
bill  for  the  week  being  as  large  as  any  of  theirs,  with 
the  exception  of  a  couple  who  had  worked  in  the  even- 
ings also.  I  believe  that  I  can  set  on  an  average  of 
5,000  ems  of  solid  matter  a  day,  including  distributing 
and  correcting,  which  according  to  the  prices  you  tell 
me  the  printers  get  in  Oregon,  would  be  worth  near- 
ly  $4." 

Emma  Curry,  her  sisters,  Martha  and  Florence,  and 
their  widowed  mother,  Eebecca  D.  Curry,  had  been  neigh- 
bours of  the  George  family.  They  had  early  in  the  year 
gone  to  Oregon  Territory  to  join  the  widow's  nephew, 
George  Curry,  who  had  been  appointed  Governor.  Mrs. 
Curry  was  a  bright,  discerning  woman.  Her  brother,  Wil- 
liam D.  Kelley,  from  1846  to  1856  was  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  of  Philadelphia  and  afterwards  repre- 
sented one  of  the  Philadelphia  districts  in  Congress  for 
almost  thirty  years  and  was  commonly  known  as  "Pig 
Iron"  Kelley.  Henry  George  had  had  many  a  long,  earnest 
talk  with  Mrs.  Curry,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  him. 
In  a  letter  to  he?  (April  3,  1857)  he  said: 

"I  am  still  at  printing  and  am  getting  along  very 
well,  considering  the  time  I  have  been  at  it.  I  should 
be  able  to  make  at  least  $5  a  week  were  I  getting  jour- 
neyman's prices,  but  that  is  impossible  here.  If  you 
can  find  out  and  will  be  kind  enough  to  write  me  the 
rates  at  which  printers  are  paid  in  Oregon,  I  shall  be 
able  to  tell  exactly  how  much  I  could  make  there. 


Age,  17-18]  TALKING  OF  OEEGON  47 

"I  commenced  last  evening  to  take  lessons  in  pen- 
manship, and  if  all  the  old  fellow  (I  mean  teacher)  says 
is  true,  by  the  time  1  write  my  next  letter  to  you  my 
chirography  will  be  so  much  improved  that  you  will 
hardly  recognise  the  hand.  I  have  taken  your  advice 
and  am  trying  to  improve  myself  all  I  can.  I  shall 
shortly  commence  to  study  book-keeping.  After  I  get 
through  that  I  shall  be  Jack  of  three  different  trades, 
and,  I  am  afraid,  master  of  none. 

"I  am  still  of  the  same  determination  in  regard  to 
going  West.  ...  I  only  wait  for  your  promised 
account  of  Oregon,  and  advice,  to  determine  where  and 
when  I  shall  go." 

Before  receipt  of  his  letter,  Mrs.   Curry  had  already 
written  (April  19)  : 

"We  talk  and  think  of  you  a  great  deal  and  I  have 
talked  with  Mr.  Curry  [the  Governor]  about  you.  He 
says,  'Do  not  go  to  sea,  but  come  here.'  He  will  see 
what  you  can  make  at  your  business  at  Salem.  He 
thinks  you  may  do  well.  He  will  inquire  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  I  shall  write  you.  Everything  pays  well 
here.  He  is  giving  a  boy  $20  a  month  for  hoeing,  chop- 
ping wood,  washing  a  little  and  bringing  up  the  cattle. 
A  man  was  paid  by  him  in  my  presence  $25  for  plough- 
ing from  Tuesday  noon  till  Friday  noon.  Give  all  at- 
tention to  your  business  and  you  will,  I  trust,  be  suc- 
cessful.    It  is  best  to  have  that  at  your  command." 


Emma  Curry  wrote  in  a  similar  strain,  and  to  her  the 
boy  replied  (June  29)  : 

"Give  my  thanks  to  the  Governor  for  the  trouble  he 
has  taken  in  my  behalf  and  for  the  information  which 
he  has  communicated  to  me  through  you.  Your  state- 
ment of  the  prospects  that  I  may  anticipate  in  Oregon 
has   decided   me.     I   will   go   out   as   soon   as   possible 


48  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1856-1857 

and  in  the  best  manner  possible,  even  if  I  am  obliged 
to  work  my  way  around  the  Horn — unless  by  a  lucky 
windfall  I  shall  get  into  some  business." 

But  the  "lucky  windfall"'  in  Philadelphia  showed  no 
signs  of  coming.  The  boy  vainly  looked  for  permanent 
employment.  He  obtained  a  position  on  a  weekly  paper 
called  "The  Merchant,"  but  this  proved  only  temporary, 
and  he  became  restless  and  thought  the  more  earnestly 
of  Oregon,  and  also  of  California,  where  he  had  a  cousin, 
son  of  his  Uncle  Dunkin  George.  But  these  places  seem- 
ing remote,  again  he  thought  of  the  sea,  if  only  as  a  means 
of  livelihood  for  the  time  being.  He  probably  was  the 
more  restless  because  of  the  reaction  from  the  old  home 
rigorous  beliefs  and  restraints.  A  blank  book  with  some 
diary  entries  covering  a  few  days  during  this  period  con- 
tains this : 

"Tues.  July  3.  Saw  Jo  Jeffreys  in  afternoon.  In 
evening  Bill  Jones  and  I  took  Sallie  Young  and  Amelia 
Eeinhart  to  the  Academy  of  Music.  But  Sallie  Young 
deserted  me  there  and  went  with  Bill  Jones.  Curse 
these  girls;  they  won't  fool  me  so  confoundedly  again. 
After  taking  them  home  we  adjourned  to  Stead's  [cigar 
store],  where  Bill  Horner  was  awaiting  us.  As  we  came 
down  we  stopped  at  Cook's  and  Bergner's  [taverns]. 
Coming  up  again,  we  serenaded  Charlie  Walton  with  the 
national  anthem,  after  which  Bill  left  us.  Horner  and 
I  again  repaired  to  Stead's,  where  after  a  little  while 
we  were  joined  by  Jo  and  a  friend  of  his,  John  Owen, 
by  name.  They,  together  with  Ebenezer  Harrison  [a 
young  Sunday  School  teacher],  had  been  enjoying  them- 
selves in  Owen's  room,  drinking  punches  and  making 
speeches.  At  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Walnut  Jo  and  I 
commenced  to  box,  when  Jo  fell  down  and  cut  his  head 
awfully.  We  raised  him  up,  took  him  to  Owen's,  washed 
his  wound  and  then  set  off  to  find  a  doctor.     We  dragged 


Age,  17-18]  A  LITERARY  SOCIETY  49 

him  around  for  about  two  hours  before  finding  any  per- 
son who  could  dress  the  wound.  At  length  we  took 
him  to  a  German  physician,  who  dressed  the  cut  and 
charged  a  V  for  his  trouble.  We  left  him  at  Owen's 
and  returned  home  about  daybreak." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  boys — Jeffreys,  Jones, 
Horner,  Walton,  Harrison,  George  and  the  others — formed 
"The  Lawrence  Literary  Society"  and  met  in  a  small  build- 
ing which  once  had  been  a  church.  Two  original  essays 
by  "Hen"  George  are  still  preserved,  one  on  "The  Poetry 
of  Life"  and  the  other  on  "Mormonism,"  a  very  hostile 
view.  There  also  exists  a  contribution  from  the  pen  of 
Charley  Walton  treating  of  the  wide-spread  industrial  de- 
pression then  prevailing  and  ascribing  its  rise  to  "extrava- 
gance and  speculation  which  have  since  the  revolution 
characterised  the  American  people."^  But  starting  with 
this  self-improving  literary  idea,  the  "Lawrence"  came 
in  the  course  of  things  to  have  other  characteristics  which 
Walton  later  described  in  a  letter  to  "Hen"  (July  29, 
1863)  : 

"I  have  often  thought  of  the  time  gone  by  when  the 
'Lawrence'  in  Jerusalem  Church  was  in  its  palmy  days. 
.  .  .  Can  you  or  I  forget  the  gay,  refreshing  and 
kindred  spirits  that  formed  that  association  and  gave 
it  a  character  so  unenviable  and  noticeable  as  eventu- 
ally to  cause  it  to  be  ordered  out  peremptorily ;  its  sym- 
pathy with  ghost  stories,  boxing  gloves,  fencing  foils 
and  deviltry;  its  exercises  tending  to  promote  muscu- 
lar rather  than  literary  abilities;  and  its  test  of  merit 
and  standard  of  membership — to  drink  Eed  Eye,  sing 
good  songs  and  smoke  lots  of  cigars?" 

1  This  essay  covers  four  pages  of  paper,  the  first  page  evidently  written 
with  great  care,  and  the  last  with  great  carelessness,  the  whole  terminat- 
ing with  the  ejaculation,  "Thank  God,  I'm  done!  " 


50  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1856-1857 

But  however  innocent  all  this  may  have  been,  the  fact 
of  knowing  anything  whatever  about  liquor  or  of  card 
playing  was  significant  of  the  break-down  of  the  old  home 
influences;  and  it  partly  explains,  with  the  loss  of  employ- 
ment and  the  ambition  to  be  independent,  the  return  of  a 
desire  for  the  sea.  At  any  rate,  Henry  George  embarked 
on  a  topsail  schooner  laden  with  coal  and  bound  from 
Philadelphia  for  Boston.  Often  afterwards,  even  towards 
the  end  of  his  life,  he  spoke  with  pride  of  the  compli- 
ments he  received  on  that  voyage.  For  when  he  applied 
as  ordinary  seaman,  the  captain  measured  him  with  some- 
thing like  contempt  and  asked  what  he  could  do. 

"I  can  handle,  reef  and  steer,"  was  the  answer. 

"You  can't  steer  this  schooner,"  returned  its  comman- 
der, "but  nevertheless  I'll  try  you." 

Notwithstanding  George's  short  stature  and  light 
weight,  the  captain  found  him  so  useful  that  at  the  end 
of  the  voyage  he  paid  him  off  at  the  full  rate  of  an  able 
seaman,  saying  that  he  had  been  of  as  much  use  as  any 
man  aboard. 

The  outlook  ashore  seemed  even  worse  when  he  got  back 
from  this  short  schooner  trip,  as  may  be  seen  from  a  let- 
ter to  one  of  his  young  friends  (B.  F.  Ely,  September  30)  : 

"The  times  here  are  very  hard  and  are  getting  worse 
and  worse  every  day,  factory  after  factory  suspending 
and  discharging  its  hands.  There  are  thousands  of 
hard-working  mechanics  now  out  of  employment  in  this 
city ;  and  it  is  to  the  fact  that  among  them  is  your  hum- 
ble servant,  that  you  owe  this  letter.  If  you  will  send 
on  without  delay  the  V.  you  owe  me  you  will  be  doing 
the  State  a  service  by  lessening  the  pressure  of  the 
hard  times  upon  one  of  the  hard  fisted  mechanics  who 
form  her  bone  and  muscle,  and  will  at  the  same  time 
be  easing  your  conscience  of  a  burden,  which  I  have 
little  doubt  bears  heavily  upon  it. 


Age,  17-18]  INDUSTRIAL  DEPEESSION  51 

"...  I  am  pretty  hard  up  at  present  and 
haven't  as  much  money  as  you  could  shake  a  stick  at. 
Indeed,  I  would  not  have  any  hesitation  in  taking  a 
situation  on  board  a  good  canal  boat  for  a  short  time, 
provided  that  it  would  pay. 

"I  have  been  trying  for  some  time  to  secure  a  berth 
on  board  the  United  States  Light -house  Steamer  Shu- 
hrick,  now  fitting  out  at  the  Navy  Yard  for  California; 
but  she  will  not  sail  for  two  weeks  at  least,  and  even 
then  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  I  can  succeed  and  go 
out  in  her. 

"There  is  a  ship  loading  here  for  San  Francisco  on 
board  of  which  I  have  been  promised  a  berth,  but  in 
tiie  present  stagnation  of  business  it  is  doubtful  whether 
she  will  get  off  before  a  month  or  two  at  least.  So 
that  you  see  I  am  in  a  pretty  bad  fix,  having  at  least 
two  weeks  of  loafing  to  look  forward  to." 

Subsequently  (October  5)  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Con- 
gressman Thomas  B.  Florence  of  his  district  asking  his 
support. 

"I  have  long  wished  to  go  to  Oregon,  where,  if  I  may 
believe  the  many  assurances  I  have  received,  prospects 
of  fortune  are  open  to  me  which  it  would  be  vain  to 
hope  for  here.  But  as  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
raise  means  sufficient  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  pas- 
sage, I  must  strive  to  adopt  the  only  plan  practicable, 
and  work  my  way  out. 

"The  Light-House  Steamer  Shuhriclv  will  sail  in  a 
couple  of  weeks  for  California,  where  she  is  to  be  em- 
ployed. I  have  been  waiting  for  her  for  some  time, 
hoping  to  get  a  chance  to  go  in  her;  but  I  now  learn 
from  good  authority  that  in  all  probability  only  a  few 
able  seamen  will  be  shipped  for  her,  in  which  case  I 
would  be  unable  to  do  so,  unless  I  can  obtain  permission 
to  ship  from  the  Light-House  Bureau. 

"I  have  been  to  sea  before,  and  am  competent  to  ship 
as  ordinary  seaman  or  first  class  boy. 

"If  you  would  be  kind  enough  to  write  to  the  proper 


52  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1856-1857] 

authorities  at  Washington  in  support  of  my  applica- 
tion, it  would  be  of  great  assistance  to  me  in  obtaining 
their  permission." 

Much  to  his  delight,  he  not  only  was  accepted  for  the 
Shuhrick,  but  received  the  appointment  of  ship's  steward, 
or  storekeeper,  at  forty  dollars  a  month;  though  like  every 
one  else  on  board,  he  was  compelled  to  sign  the  ship's 
articles  for  one  year's  service,  and  not  for  the  voyage  to 
California  alone,  which  was  all  that  he  wished  to  do.  On 
December  22,  1857,  he  said  farewell  to  his  loved  ones,  and 
the  little  vessel  under  Commander  John  DeCamp  of  the 
U.  S.  Navy  steamed  down  the  Delaware  River  and  started 
on  her  long  journey  around  the  southern  extremity  of 
South  America. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 
WOKKS    HIS    PASSAGE    TO    CALIFORNIA. 

1858.  Age,  19. 

A  ND  now  the  boy  having  left  home  to  face  the  world  and 
.£\.  seek  his  fortune  in  the  new  country,  it  may  be  in- 
structive to  get  some  more  definite  knowledge  of  his  char- 
acter. A  key  to  it,  or  at  any  rate  to  his  own  estimate  at 
that  time  of  it,  exists  in  a  phrenological  sketch  that  he 
wrote  of  himself  while  still  in  Philadelphia.  It  is  in  his 
clear  hand-writing  and  covers  two  half-sheets  of  blue,  un- 
ruled, legal-cap  paper,  on  the  back  of  one  of  which  are  the 
words,  "Phrenological  examination  of  head  by  self."  The 
examination  is  as  follows: 

"Circumference  [of  head],  21%;  ear  to  ear,  12^/^. 

1.  Amativeness Large. 

2.  Philoprogenitiveness Moderate. 

3.  Adhesiveness    Large. 

4.  Inhabitativeness Large. 

5.  Concentrativeness   Small. 

6.  Combativeness Large. 

7.  Destructiveness    Large. 

8.  Alimentiveness    Full. 

9.  Acquisitiveness    Small. 

10.  Secretiveness   Large. 

11.  Caution    Large. 

12.  Approbativeness    

13.  Self-esteem    Large. 

53 


54:  LIFE  OF  HENRY  aEORGE  [1858 

14.  Firmness    Large. 

15.  Conscientiousness    Large. 

16.  Hope     Large. 

17.  Marvellousness    

18.  Veneration     

19.  Benevolence  

20.  Constructiveness   

21.  Ideality    

22.  Imitation 

23.  Mirthfulness    Small. 

24.  Individuality  Large. 

25.  Form    

26.  Size Large. 

27.  Weight  

28.  Colour    

29.  Order    

30.  Calculation    Small. 

31.  Locality    Large. 

32.  Eventuality    Full. 

33.  Time Large. 

34.  Tune 

35.  Language  Moderate. 

36.  Causality    Large. 

37.  Comparison    Large. 

"An  ardent,  devoted,  fervent  and  constant  lover; 
will  defend  the  object  of  his  love  with  boldness,  protect 
his  or  her  rights  with  spirit.  Will  feel  much  stronger 
attachment  than  he  will  express. 

"Is  not  very  fond  of  children.  May  love  them  as 
friends,  rather  than  as  children. 

"Is  strong  in  his  attachments;  readily  takes  the  part 
of  friends,  resents  and  retaliates  their  injuries;  yet  may 
occasionally  fall  out  with  them. 

"Chooses  as  his  friends  the  talented,  intellectual  and 
literary,  and  avoids  the  ignorant. 

"Is  extremely  fond  of  travelling.  Has  an  insatiable 
desire  to  roam  about  and  see  the  world  and  afterwards 
to  settle  down. 

"Is  patriotic  and  ready  to  sacrifice  all  in  defence  of 
his  country. 


Age,  19]  PHRENOLOGICAL   CHART  55 

"May  get  angry  quickly,  but,  unless  the  injury  is 
deep  or  intended,  cannot  retain  his  anger. 

"Will  be  more  likely  to  make  a  general  than  a  critical 
scholar.  May  have  bold  and  original  ideas  upon  a  va- 
riety of  subjects,  yet  will  not  without  effort  or  excite- 
ment have  a  train  of  connected  thoughts  upon  any. 

"Is  qualified  to  meet  difficulties,  overcome  obstacles, 
endure  hardships,  contend  for  privileges,  maintain  opin- 
ions, resent  insults  and  defend  his  rights  to  the  last; 
generally  takes  sides  on  every  contested  question;  natu- 
rally hasty  in  temper. 

"Desires  money  more  as  a  means  than  as  an  end,  more 
for  its  uses  than  to  lay  up ;  and  pays  too  little  attention 
to  small  sums. 

"Generally  keeps  his  thoughts,  feelings,  plans,  etc., 
to  himself.  Will  effect  his  purposes  indirectly  and  with- 
out detection.  May  sometimes  communicate  his  feel- 
ings to  his  nearest  friends,  yet  will  seldom  do  this,  and 
will  exercise  more  attachment  than  he  expresses.  May 
restrain  for  a  long  time  the  anger  which  is  burning 
in  his  bosom;  yet  when  he  does  give  vent  to  it,  it  will 
blaze  forth  in  good  earnest.  Is  slow  in  commencing, 
yet  when  once  interested  in  any  project  pushes  it  with 
great  spirit.  May  be  timid  and  fearful  tmtil  his  courage 
is  once  excited,  but  will  then  be  bold  and  fearless.  In 
cases  of  danger,  will  be  perfectly  self-possessed ;  and  yet 
will  have  fore-thought  enough  to  do  just  what  the  occa- 
sion demands.  Cannot  soon  be  worked  up  to  the  stick- 
ing point ;  but  is  determined,  if  not  desperate,  when  once 
kindled. 

"Is  inclined  to  enter  largely  into  business  and  to 
push  his  projects  with  so  much  energy  and  zeal  as  to 
appear  rash  and  nearly  destitute  of  caution;  yet  will 
come  out  about  right  in  the  end  and  will  seldom  fail 
entirely  in  his  projects,  though  he  may  be  obliged  to 
retrace  his  steps." 

This  "phrenological  examination,"  tested  by  what  others 
can  remember  of  him  at  that  period  and  by  the  traits 
shown  later  in  life,  must  be  regarded,  so  far  as  it  goes,  as 
a  fairly  accurate  presentation  of  the  boy's  chief  charac- 


56  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858 

teristics.  But  this  should  not  l)e  set  down  to  phrenology, 
for  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  he  placed  particular  con- 
fidence, or  even  had  more  than  passing  interest,  in  that 
teaching.^  Nor  is  it  to  be  set  down  as  a  lucky  kind  of 
guess  about  himself.  It  is  in  truth,  more  than  anything 
else,  the  fruit  of  a  habit  of  introspection  which  had  begun 
about  the  time  of  the  return  from  the  first  sea  voyage  and 
which  was  afterwards  to  be  shown  more  and  more  strongly. 
Meanwhile  the  little  Shuhrich  was  boldly  pushing  her 
way  down  the  coast.  This  was  her  first  trip  in  commis- 
sion, Henry  George  having  seen  her  building  in  the  Phila- 
delphia ISTavy  Yard  that  very  year.  She  was  named  after 
Eear  Admiral  William  B.  Shubrick,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy, 
who  had  been  Chairman  of  the  Light-House  Board  since 
1852.  She  was  to  become  the  first  vessel  on  light-house 
duty  on  the  Pacific  coast,  to  which  service  she  was  now 
proceeding;  and  the  first  tender  under  steam  in  the  light- 
house department  of  the  United  States.  She  was  of  372 
tons  burden,  140  feet  in  length,  22  feet  in  beam  and  19 
feet  in  depth  of  hold;  with  black  hull,  red  side-wheels, 
black  funnel  and  two  masts,  the  foremast  square  rigged. 
She  looked  as  sharp  and  trim  as  a  yacht,  but,  as  in  addi- 
tion to  her  regular  duties  of  supplying  light-houses  and 
maintaining  the  buoyage  along  the  west  coast,  she  was 
intended  to  give  protection  to  government  property  along 

1  Thirty  years  later,  when  his  son,  Richard,  manifested  interest  in  phre- 
nology, Henry  George  discouraged  him,  saying  that  though  indirectly  or 
collaterally  there  probably  was  truth  in  it,  the  subject  was  one  that,  in 
his  opinion,  Nature  did  not  intend  to  have  man  know  much  about,  since 
the  discovery  of  constitutional  characteristics  would  with  most  men  seem 
to  indicate  foreordination,  and  checking  free  and  independent  action, 
would  tend  to  produce  fatalism.  Moreover,  he  said,  plirenology  was  not 
needed  for  man's  progress,  for  that  did  not  depend  upon  a  knowledge  of 
the  relative  development  of  the  faculties,  but  rather  upon  the  use  of  the 
faculties,  whatever  they  might  be. 


Age,  19]  A  WHITE   SQUALL  57 

the  sea  shore  of  Oregon  and  Washington  from  the  depre- 
dations of  Indian  tribes,  she  was  armed  with  six  brass 
guns  and  a  novel  contrivance  for  squirting  scalding  water 
on  the  redskins  when  at  close  quarters. 

On  Christmas  day,  while  the  Shubrick  was  steaming 
along  over  a  sun-kissed  sea  some  distance  off  the  Hatteras 
coast,  the  wind,  which  had  been  fair,  subsided,  and  then 
without  warning  rose  into  a  white  squall,  blowing  from 
the  north-east.  The  boat's  head  was  swung  around  and 
she  was  brought  to  under  low-steam.  At  night  the  wind 
blew  a  hurricane,  the  sea  breaking  over  her  fore  and  aft 
with  great  violence.  The  after  part  of  the  wheelhouse, 
engineer's  storeroom  and  starboard  bulwarks  were  stove 
in,  and  everything  movable  on  deck  washed  overboard, 
including  port  shutters,  harness-casks,  deck  engine,  and 
spare  spars  and  lumber.  At  ten  that  night,  deeming  that 
she  was  in  danger  of  foundering,  thirty  tons  of  sacked 
coal  and  some  other  things  were  thrown  overboard.^ 
Many  times  during  his  life  Henry  George  spoke  of  the 
terrors  of  this  storm,  on  one  occasion^  saying: 

"A  negro  deckhand  and  I  worked  together  throwing 
over  bags  of  coal  to  lighten  her.  The  sailing  master 
hung  on  the  bridge  shouting  to  us  through  the  speak- 
ing trumpet  and  barely  able  to  make  himself  heard, 
as  he  told  us  the  work  we  were  doing  was  for  life  or 
death." 

This  relieved  the  vessel  and  at  day-light  she  was  en- 
abled to  proceed  on  her  course,  nine  days  after  leaving 

1  Notes  from  record  of  Shuhrick,  by  courtesy  of  the  U.  S.  Light- 
House  Board  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  of  Captain  Geo.  W.  Coffin, 
U.  S.  N. ,  Inspector  12th  Light-House  District,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

2  From  shorthand  notes  by  Ralph  Meeker  of  a  conversation,  New  York, 
October,  1897. 


58  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

Philadelphia  putting  into   St.   Thomas,  West   Indies,  to 
renew  her  coal  supply  and  make  necessary  repairs. 

To  Jo  Jeffreys,  his  young  friend  in  Philadelphia, 
Henry  George  sent  from  St.  Thomas  a  clear  account  of 
the  passage  and  of  the  danger  the  ship  had  been  in;  but 
to  his  parents,  under  same  date  (January  6,  1858),  he 
wrote  in  quite  different  style  to  save  them  from  anxiety, 
omitting  all  mention  of  danger.  The  letter  to  his  parents 
read: 

"Here  I  am  this  winter's  afternoon  (while  you  are 
gathering  around  the  parlour  stove,  perhaps  thinking 
and  talking  of  me)  sitting  in  the  open  air  in  my  white 
sleeves  almost  roasted  by  the  heat.  I  wish  you  could 
view  the  scene  which  surrounds  me.  The  noble  moun- 
tains rising  from  the  water,  covered  with  perpetual  vege- 
tation of  the  tropics  and  varied  in  colour  by  the  shad- 
ows of  the  clouds  which  seem  to  climb  their  sides;  the 
little  town  with  its  square  red-roofed,  Dutch  houses 
and  white  forts,  surrounded  by  the  palm  and  cocoanut 
trees  which  line  the  head  of  the  bay;  the  ships  and 
steamers  which  deck  the  harbour;  and  the  boundless 
sea  stretching  away  to  the  edge  of  the  horizon,  glitter- 
ing in  the  sunlight — form  a  picture  which  I  know  you 
would  enjoy. 

"Now  that  I  have  tried  to  give  you  a  faint  idea  of 
the  scenery  that  surrounds  me,  I  shall  try  and  give  you 
an  account  of  our  passage. 

"We  had  head  winds  and  a  rough  sea  most  of  the  time ; 
and  as  the  steamer  was  very  slow,  the  spray  which  in- 
cessantly flew  over  her  made  the  deck  very  wet  and,  con- 
sequently, unpleasant.  However,  we  made  the  run  in 
nine  days  from  the  time  we  left  the  breakwater  and 
arrived  here  early  on  Saturday  morning. 

"I  went  ashore  last  Sunday  and  attended  church,  and 
then  together  with  Jim  Stanley  (the  young  fellow  who 
I  told  you  was  going  out  as  Engineer's  Store  Keeper) 
climbed  the  mountain  to  the  ruins  of  the  castle  of 
Blackboard,    a   notorious   pirate   chieftain,    who    for   a 


Age,  19]  A  CALL  OF  DUTY  59 

long  time  made  this  island  his  home  and  stronghold. 
After  coming  down,  we  wandered  all  over  the  town  and 
saw  all  that  was  to  he  seen,  which  I  suppose  is  the  same 
as  in  the  generality  of  West  Indian  islands — plenty  of 
darkies — men,  women  and  children — bamboo  shanties, 
soldiers  and  cocoanut  trees.     .     .     . 

"I  expect  our  next  passage  to  be  much  more  pleasant 
than  the  last,  as  we  shall  not  be  heavily  burdened  by 
coal,  and  important  additions  have  been  made  in  the 
shape  of  booby-hatches,  etc.     .     .     . 

"I  know,  my  dear  parents,  that  you  felt  deeply  the 
parting  with  me — far  more  so  than  I  did.  But  let  the 
fact  that  I  am  satisfied  and  that  my  chances  are  more 
than  fair  comfort  you.  As  for  me,  I,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life,  left  home  with  scarcely  a  regret  and  with- 
out a  tear.  I  believed  that  it  was  my  duty  both  to 
myself  and  to  you  to  go,  and  this  belief  assuaged  the 
pain  of  parting. 

"I  am  now  setting  out  for  myself  in  the  world,  and 
though  young  in  years,  I  have  every  confidence  in  my 
ability  to  go  through  whatever  may  be  bef-ore  me.  But 
of  that  I  shall  say  nothing.    Let  the  future  alone  prove." 

In  reply  to  the  letter  he  received  from  St.  Thomas,  Jo 
Jeffreys  wrote  (February  1)  : 

"While  such  fools  and  intolerable  dolts  as  James  Mc- 
Mullen^  live,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  expect  your  fam- 
ily to  be  kept  ignorant  of  your  great  danger.  I  will 
elucidate  the  matter.  Some  few  days  since  a  telegraphic 
despatch  (from  Boston,  I  think)  appeared  in  the  Tub- 

1  "Jim"  McMuUen,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  was  regarded  by  his 
boy  friends  as  slow  of  comprehension.  One  day  wishing  to  go  swimming 
without  McMullen,  they  tried  the  expedient  of  telling  him  one  after 
another  that  his  head  was  swollen  and  tliat  he  must  be  sick.  This  suc- 
ceeded so  well  that  the  boy  went  home  and  to  bed  in  a  fever  of  excite, 
ment,  and  they  had  great  difficulty  in  convincing  him  that  they  had  been 
deluding  him.  The  experience  so  frightened  Henry  George  that  he  never 
again  indulged  in  that  kind  of  a  practical  joke. 


60  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

lie  Ledger'  setting  forth  that  the  U.  S.  S.  ShuhricTc  had 
put  into  St.  Thomas  in  great  distress,  want  of  coal,  etc., 
etc.  This  I  presumed  somewhat  alarmed  your  mother; 
but  she  received  your  letter  about  the  same  time,  and 
you  saying  nothing  of  any  storm,  but  merely  mentioning 
rough  weather  encountered  in  the  Gulf,  she  thought  no 
more  of  it.  But  here  McMuUen  steps  in  on  last  Satur- 
day night  (he  called  once  before  since  your  departure) 
and  after  propounding  several  knotty  interrogatories  to 
your  father,  very  kindly  informed  your  mother  that  he 
had  seen  an  extract  from  a  private  letter  written  by 
one  of  the  Shuhric¥s  engineers  to  a  friend  in  this  city 
in  the  'Evening  Journal'  (or  as  Collis  says,  the  'Even- 
ing Disturber')  the  purport  of  which  was  that  the 
ShuhricTc  had  encountered  a  terrific  storm,  that  they 
almost  went  down,  etc.,  etc. 

"I  happened  to  call  in  a  few  minutes  after  and  was 
subjected  to  a  series  of  questions  which  made  me  wince. 
I  had  received  a  letter  from  you?  Yes.  Well,  what 
did  you  say?  You  said  you  were  well  and  in  good 
spirits.  Was  that  all?  Yes,  about  all.  I  was  sorry 
to  say  I  had  left  the  letter  at  the  office.  (It  was  in  the 
breast-pocket  of  my  coat.)  Did  you  say  anything  about 
a  storm?  (This  question  was  propounded  by  your 
mother,  who  looked  me  straight  in  the  eye,  while  Cad, 
Janie  and  Kate  followed  her  example,  and  your  father, 
who  was  reclining  on  the  sofa,  turned  round  to  hear 
the  answer,  which,  with  this  awful  battery  of  unflinch- 
ing eyes  in  front,  and  the  consciousness  that  your  father 
might  have  some  information  upon  the  subject  which 
he  "designed  to  level  at  me  in  the  rear,  I  was  endeavour- 
ing to  manufacture  into  as  ingenious  a  shape  as  pos- 
sible. They  looked  at  me;  I  returned  the  gaze  as  stead-. 
ily  as  an  honest  fellow  who  knew  he  was  going  to 
dissimulate  for  the  sake  of  an  absent  friend — but  an  aw- 
ful bad  fellow — could  do.  At  last  I  broke  silence. )  No. 
You  had  said,  however,  that  you  had  encountered  rough 
weather  and  had  got  out  of  coal.  (My  hair  almost 
stood  on  end,  and  the  perspiration  rolled  in  mad  tor- 
rents down  the  exterior  covering  of  my  seething  brain.) 


Age,  19] 


LETTERS  FROM   HOME  61 


To  this  succeeded  a  number  of  questions  that  tortured 
me  almost  to  martyrdom,  for,  as  you  know,  my  very 
bowels  yearned  to  tell  the  truth.  I,  however,  satisfied 
your  mother  that  the  'Evening  Disturber'  had  made 
false  representations,  and  so  ends  that  difficulty. 

"...  You  are  right.  Hen.  'There  never  was 
any  affectation  of  sentiment  in  speech  between  us  when 
face  to  face,'  and  none  shall  exist  now.  How  do  you 
know  that  we  shall  never  meet  again?  I  should  be 
obliged  to  you  if  you  would  not  send  such  letters  to  me 
in  the  middle  of  business — letters  which  are  calculated 
to  distract  my  mind  and  render  me  as  weak  as  a  child. 
Your  ideas  absolutely  make  me  gloomy,  truth  though 
they  be.  You  know  I  love  you,  Hen,  as  much  as  any- 
one in  this  wide  world.     .     .     . 

"I  have  commenced  to  reform,  and  Bill  Jones  and 
myself  have  for  some  time  been  studying  geometry  to- 
gether. I  spend  but  little,  37  cents  a  week  on  cigars, 
and  loaf  only  occasionally.  I  go  to  the  office  some- 
times in  the  evening  and  study  law.  Bill  and  I  are  to 
take  up  natural  philosophy  and  grammar  in  a  few  days." 


The  father's  letter  soon  after  the  departure  of  the  Shu- 
hricJc  shows  the  man's  robust  nature. 


"My  dear  boy,  we  have  missed  you.  I  have  hardly 
become  reconciled  to  your  absence.  It  seems  that  I 
cannot  lock  the  front  door  without  the  thought  of 
your  coming  in;  and  when  the  boys  visit  us — Jeffreys, 
Jones  and  the  others — it  seems  as  if  it  leaves  a  blank 
when  we  find  you  absent.  Don't  think  I  regret  the 
step  you  have  taken.  On  the  contrary,  the  more  I 
think  of  it,  the  more  I  see  the  hand  of  Providence  in 
it.     .     .     . 

"Nothing  has  transpired  since  you  left  worthy  of 
note.  Things  are  much  as  you  left  them.  The  times 
are  rather  on  the  mend  [industrially].  In  political 
matters  things  look  gloomy.     The  nigger  question,  Mor- 


62  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858 

monism  and  General  Walker/  etc.,  will,  I  think,  give  us 
trouble ;  but  notwithstanding  all  this  and  as  much  more, 
the  Union  is  and  will  be  safe  as  long  as  there  is  bunt- 
ing to  make  stars  and  stripes.  They  may  bluster  North, 
East,  South  and  West  as  much  as  they  please.  Our 
nation  is  in  the  hands  and  under  the  guidance  of  a 
higher  Power,  who  created  this  republic  for  a  higher  and 
holier  destiny,  which  is  not  revealed,  and  will  not  be 
until  I  am  long  gathered  to  my  fathers/' 

From  St.  Thomas  to  Barbadoes  and  thence  to  Pernam- 
buco  and  Eio  Janeiro  the  little  Shuhrick  proceeded,  hav- 
ing fair  weather  and  making  fair  time.  A  letter  written 
at  Monte  Video  to  one  of  the  young  friends  in  Philadel- 
phia (Charley  Walton,  February  18)  gives  some  charac- 
teristic notes : 

"We  arrived  here  yesterday  morning  after  a  passage 
of  five  days  from  Eio.  We  lay  five  days  in  the  latter 
port  and  had  very  fine  weather  and  a  pleasant  time 
generally,  marred  only  by  one  or  two  little  accidents. 
.  .  .  The  first  night  we  stayed  there  all  hands  went 
ashore,  wandered  over  the  island,  and  as  a  matter  of 
course,  got  drunk.  A  couple  of  the  men  in  trying  to 
come  aboard  fell  over  a  precipice  about  forty  feet  in 
height.  One  escaped  uninjujed,  but  the  other  was 
nearly  killed.  He  is  now  recovering  fast,  but  it  will 
be  some  time  before  his  arm,  which  was  broken,  will 
be  entirely  healed. 

"I  enjoyed  myself  very  well  while  we  were  coaling, 
wandering  along  the  rocks,  catching  crabs  and  toad- 

1  Probably  a  reference  to  William  Walker  of  Tennessee,  who  led  a  fili- 
bustering expedition  into  Lower  California  and  was  driven  out.  Then  he 
went  to  Nicaragua,  C.  A.,  assumed  the  title  of  President  of  that  State, 
and  re-established  chattel  slavery,  which  had  been  abolished.  He  was 
driven  from  power  in  May,  1857,  but  escaped  to  New  Orleans.  In  1860 
he  led  a  filibustering  expedition  against  Honduras,  but  within  four 
months  was  captured  and  shot  at  Truxillo. 


Hemy  George's  father,  Richard  Samuel  Henry  George. 

From  daQuerreotijpe  taken  in  the  middle  fifties. 


Age,  19]  "DUST   TO  DUST"  63 

fish  and  paddling  from  one  island  to  another  in  a  canoe, 
the  exact  model  of  the  famous  one  constructed  by  Cru- 
soe, and  like  his,  made  of  a  single  piece. 

"I  was  ashore  in  Kio  but  once — on  Sunday  after- 
noon— and  saw  but  little  of  the  town,  as  it  was  too  in- 
fernally hot  to  walk  the  narrow  streets." 

The  chief  incident  of  the  voyage — an  event  of  singular 
nature — occurred  at  the  port  of  Monte  Video.  Two  let- 
ters containing  a  brief  mention  of  it  have  been  preserved, 
but  a  full  and  graphic  account  appeared  under  tlie  title 
of  "Dust  to  Dust"  in  a  sketch  written  by  Henry  George 
eight  years  subsequently  and  when  he  was  less  than  twen- 
ty-seven, at  the  request  of  his  friend  Edmund  Wallazz, 
for  publication  in  the  "Philadelphia  Saturday  Night,"^  a 
prosperous  weekly  paper,  of  which  Wallazz  was  then  fore- 
man and  part  owner. 

The  story  in  substance  is  this.  An  hour  after  leaving 
Eio,  yellow  fever  had  broken  out  on  the  8huhrich  and  sev- 
eral were  taken  down.  All  recovered  except  the  Second 
Assistant  Engineer,  S.  W.  Martin,  a  popular  young  man 
on  board. 

"The  crisis  seemed  past,  and  if  his  strength  would 
only  last  un+il  he  neared  the  Cape,  all  would  be  well. 
.  .  .  Only  one  port  remained  to  be  passed  before  we 
should  hail  the  rain  and  fog,  and  strength-giving  winds 
— Monte  Video.  But  when  we  entered  that  great  stream, 
more  sea  than  river,  the  mighty  La  Plata,  on  which  the 
city  is  situated,  young  Martin  was  dying.     .     .     . 

"For  some  time  in  intervals  of  consciousness,  Martin 
had  been  aware  of  his  approaching  end,  and  the  only 
thing  that  seemed  to  trouble  him  was  the  idea  of  dying 
so  far  from  those  he  loved,  and  of  being  buried  where 

^This  sketch  on  the  following  month,  July  14,  1866,  was  republished 
in  the  San  Francisco  "Califoruian,"  conducted  by  some  printer  friends  of 
Henry  George. 


64  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858 

affection  might  never  mark  his  resting  place.  It  was 
his  last  and  earnest  request  that  his  grave  might  be 
made  on  shore,  where  his  body  could  be  recognised  by 
his  friends,  and  not  committed  to  the  waves ;  and  though 
it  was  very  doubtful  if  the  privilege  could  be  granted, 
yet  the  captain  resolved  to  take  the  corpse  into  the  har- 
bour, and  try  to  obtain  permission  to  bury  it  ashore. 

"And  when  night  came,  sadly  we  talked  in  little 
groups  upon  the  deck,  while  the  sound  of  hammer  and 
plane  from  the  gangway,  told  that  the  'last  house'  of 
one  of  us  was  being  built.  Though  no  star  shed  its 
light,  still  it  was  not  all  blackness.  The  'river  of  sil- 
ver' beamed  with  a  lustre  of  its  own.  ISTot  alone  the 
furrows  our  prow  threw  aside,  or  the  broad  wake  we 
left  behind,  but  the  whole  surface  of  the  water  glowed 
with  phosphorescent  brightness,  and  we  seemed  to  force 
our  way  through  a  sheet  of  molten  silver. 

"All  night  long  we  steamed  up  the  river,  and  when 
the  sun  again  arose — it  showed  us  the  harbour  of  Monte 
Video.  Out  beyond  all  the  other  shipping  lay  a  stately 
frigate,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  of  the  great  republic 
streaming  from  her  peak  in  the  morning  breeze — the  old 
8t.  Lmvrence,  flagship  of  the  squadron.  .  .  .  We 
were  bringing  them  news  and  letters  from  home,  and 
every  port  of  the  great  ship  thronged  with  faces  eager 
to  see  the  comer  from  the  land  they  loved.  Kunning 
up  under  her  quarter,  we  were  hailed  and  answered,  and 
after  the  usual  inquiries,  our  captain  mentioned  the 
death  of  young  Martin,  and  his  wish  to  have  him  buried 
on  shore;  but  was  told  that  it  was  impossible,  that  we 
would  infringe  the  quarantine  rules  by  even  entering 
the  port  with  the  corpse;  and  M^as  directed  to  steam 
back  some  miles  and  commit  the  body  to  the  waves,  be- 
fore entering  the  harbour. 

"The  shrill  whistle  of  the  boatswain  sounded;  a  boat 
dropped  from  the  frigate's  davits,  reached  our  side, 
took  letters  and  papers,  and  our  little  steamer  turned 
slowly  round  to  retrace  her  path.  We  had  felt  sad 
while  coming  up,  but  a  darker  gloom  hung  over  all  while 
going  down  the  river.  It  seemed  so  hard  that  the  last  and 
only  request  of  the  poor  boy  could  not  be  complied  with. 


Age,  19]  THE  BODY  TO  THE  DEEP  65 

"But  swiftly  down  the  current  in  the  bright,  fresh 
morning  dashed  our  little  boat,  and  when  the  lofty 
frigate  was  hull-down  behind  us,  we  turned  and  stopped 
for  the  last  sad  rites. 

"Upon  the  quarter-deck,  in  reverential  silence,  all 
hands  were  gathered.  The  large  box-like  coffin,  in 
which  we  had  hoped  to  commit  our  dead  to  mother 
earth,  bored  full  of  holes  and  filled  up  with  heavy  mate- 
rials, w^as  placed  by  the  side,  covered  with  the  flag. 
The  beautiful  burial  service  was  commenced,  its  solemn 
sentences  sounding  doubly  solemn  under  such  mourn- 
ful circumstances — there  was  a  pause — then  came  the 
words,  'We,  therefore,  commit  his  body  to  the  deep !' 
and  with  a  surge  the  waves  closed  above  the  dead. 

"Hardly  a  word  was  spoken  as  the  wheels  again  took 
up  their  task,  and  we  began  to  ascend  the  river,  but 
every  eye  was  fixed  on  the  spot  we  were  leaving,  and 
at  the  same  instant  an  exclamation  sprang  from  every 
lip  as  the  coffin  was  seen  to  rise !  The  engine  was 
quickly  stopped,  a  boat  lowered,  and  taking  a  small 
anchor  and  some  heavy  chain,  they  tried  to  secure  and 
sink  the  box.  But  it  was  no  easy  task  in  the  fresh 
breeze  and  short,  chopping  sea,  and  the  coffin  seemed 
almost  instinct  with  life  and  striving  to  elude  their 
efforts.  Again  and  again  they  were  foiled  in  their  at- 
tempt to  fasten  the  weights,  but  were  at  last  successful, 
and  once  more  the  water  closed  above  the  corpse. 

"After  waiting  some  time,  to  make  sure  that  it  could 
not  float  again,  we  started  once  more  up  the  river,  and 
this  time  awe  was  mingled  with  our  grief.  Most  men 
who  follow  the  sea  have  a  touch  of  superstition.  There 
is  something  in  the  vastness  with  which  Nature  pre- 
sents herself  upon  the  great  waters  which  influences  in 
this  direction  even  minds  otherwise  sceptical.  And  as 
we  steamed  up  the  river,  it  was  more  than  hinted  among 
many  of  us  that  the  strong  desire  of  the  dying  man  had 
something  to  do  with  the  difficulty  of  sinking  his  body. 

"This  time  we  passed  the  frigate,  saluting,  but  not 
stopping,  and  entered  the  port.  It  was  war  time;  on 
the  Pampas  some  phase  of  the  interminable  quarrels  of 
this  Southern  federation  was  being  fought  out,  and  the 


66  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

harbour  was  crowded  with  men-of-war.  Nearly  all  the 
Brazilian  navy  was  there,  watching  the  progress  of 
events;  and  besides  these,  and  the  numerous  merchant- 
men, the  ensign  of  almost  every  nation  was  displayed 
above  some  armed  vessel.  By  direction  of  the  officer 
who  boarded  us,  we  proceeded  past  them  all,  to  the 
farther  side  of  the  harbour,  where  we  were  ordered  to 
lie  in  quarantine  seven  days  before  being  allowed  to  coal. 

"The  new  scene,  the  various  objects  of  interest  around 
and  the  duties  of  clearing  up,  conspired  to  make  us 
forget  the  events  of  the  morning,  but  the  sun  was  yet 
some  distance  above  the  western  horizon  when  a  startling 
circumstance  occurred  to  recall  them  to  our  minds. 

"Nearly  all  hands  were  busily  engaged  below,  only 
two  or  three  loitering  around  the  deck,  when  the  quar- 
termaster, sweeping  the  harbour  with  his  glass,  noticed 
something  floating  in,  which  riveted  his  attention. 
Again  and  again  he  looked  at  it;  then,  with  surprise 
and  dismay  in  his  face,  called  the  officer  of  the  deck. 
The  whisper  spread  through  the  ship,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  all  were  watching  in  silence  the  object  that 
seemed  drifting  towards  us.  Onward  it  came,  through 
all  the  vessels  that  lay  beyond  us — now  lost  to  our  view, 
now  coming  in  sight  again — turning  and  tacking  as 
though  piloted  by  life,  and  steadily  holding  its  course 
for  our  steamer.  It  passed  the  last  ship,  and  came 
straight  for  us.  It  came  closer,  and  every  doubt  was 
dispelled — it  was,  indeed,  the  coffin!  A  thrill  of  awe 
passed  through  every  heart  as  the  fact  became  assured. 

"Eight  under  our  bows  came  the  box;  it  touched  our 
side;  halted  a  moment,  as  if  claiming  recognition,  and 
then  drifted  slowly  past  us  towards  the  shore. 

"There  was  an  excited  murmur  forward,  a  whispered 
consultation  in  the  knot  of  officers  aft;  then  one  ad- 
vanced— 'Man  the  quarter  boat,  boys;  take  pick  and 
spades ;  tow  the  coffin  ashore,  and  bury  the  body !' 

"It  was  the  work  of  a  moment — the  boat  shot  like  an 
arrow  from  our  side,  the  ashen  oars  bending  with  the 
energy  of  the  stroke.  Eeverently  and  gently  they  se- 
cured the  box,  and  with  slow,  solemn  strokes,  towed  it 
to  the  foot  of  the  desolate  looking  hill  that  skirts  the 


Age,  19]  THE  STEAIT  OF  MAGELLAN  67 

bay.  There,  breaking  it  open,  they  bore  the  corpse, 
covered  with  the  flag,  a  little  distance  up  the  hillside, 
and  making  in  the  twilight  a  grave  among  the  chaparral, 
laid  it  to  rest,  marking  the  spot  with  a  rude  cross,  which, 
concealed  from  observation  by  the  bushes,  would  yet 
serve  as  a  mark  of  recognition,  and  secure  the  grave, 
should  it  be  noticed,  from  the  intrusion  of  vandal  hands. 
"And  so,  spite  of  all,  that  dying  wish  was  gratified, 
and  the  body  which  the  waters  refused  to  receive  was 
laid  to  rest  in  its  mother  earth."^ 

From  Monte  Video  the  8hubrick  proceeded  to  the  Strait 
of  Magellan,  arriving  at  Cape  Virgin  on  March  6;  for 
instead  of  taking  the  long  route  followed  by  sailing  ves- 
sels around  Cape  Horn,  she  was  to  steam  by  the  short 
route  through  the  strait.  The  heavy  westerly  winds  and 
strong  currents  peculiar  to  that  region  made  such  bois- 
terous weather  that  progress  was  greatly  retarded  and 
nearly  all  the  coal  consumed,  so  that  the  crew  had  to  go 
ashore  and  cut  fire-wood  with  which  to  make  the  next 
port.^  To  his  family  Henry  George  has  described  the  scen- 
ery in  the  western  part  of  the  strait  as  perhaps  the  most 
magnificent  and  impressive  he  ever  beheld. 

"The  water  was  clear  and  green  with  depth  even  up 
to  the  banks,  which  in  places  were  sheer  walls  of  rock 
running  up  perhaps  three  thousand  feet  and  mantled  at 
their  summits  with  dazzling  snow.  In  the  valleys  be- 
tween these  and  the  mountains  beyond  were  glacial  for- 
mations, white  and  green  and  iridescent;  and  at  the 
bases  where  the  land  flattened  out,  were  heavy  growths 
of  evergreens. 

1  If  Mr.  George  had  any  superstitious  feeling  at  the  time  regarding  the 
matter — and  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  had  —  he  certainly  did 
not  continue  to  entertain  it  in  after  years,  but  believed  the  movements  of 
the  coffin  due  to  the  accidental  loosening  of  weights,  peculiarities  of  cur- 
rents and  other  natural  causes. 

2  'Shubrick's  log. 


68  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

"Being  short  of  fuel,  we  brought  the  little  steamer 
against  a  bank,  and  tieing  her  there,  went  ashore  and 
cut  wood.  This  consumed  a  number  of  days.  We  ran 
into  a  little  harbour  in  the  strait  and  came  upon  a 
schooner  which  belonged  to  English  missionaries  with 
whom  we  exchanged  letters.  The  missionaries  were 
praying  and  working  with  the  native  Terra  del  Fuegians. 
We  saw  a  number  of  these  natives,  and  they  were  not 
at  all  attractive.  I  heard  afterwards  that  the  Pata- 
gonians  killed  and  ate  these  missionaries.^' 

On  the  passage  up  the  Pacific  coast  the  Shubrick  touched 
at  Valdivia,  Valparaiso,  Panama,  and  San  Diego,  and  on 
the  27th  of  May,  1858,  after  a  voyage  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  days  from  Philadelphia,  arrived  at  San  Fran- 
cisco. 


CHAPTEE  V. 
AT    THE    FEAZER   EIVEE    GOLD    FIELDS. 

1858.  Age,  19 

WHEN  the  81iubrich  glided  through  the  Golden  Gate 
and  cast  anchor,  it  was  with  mixed  emotions  that 
Henry  George  gazed  about  him.  California,  bursting  on 
the  world  ten  years  before  with  her  astonishing  gold  discov- 
eries, had  now  begun  to  reveal  to  the  prospectors  who 
found  that  the  mineral  regions  had  meanwhile  been  occu- 
pied, a  new  wealth  of  soil  in  her  amazing  agricultural 
fecundity.  She  had  now  been  for  eight  years  a  State  in 
the  Union,  and  had  a  population  of  about  three  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand,  of  which  her  chief  city,  San  Francisco, 
claimed  some  fifty  thousand. 

Like  a  new  Eternal  City,  San  Francisco  nestled  upon  a 
cluster  of  hills.  These  hills  rose  on  a  narrow  spur  or 
peninsula,  washed  on  the  west  by  the  ocean  and  on  the 
east  by  the  bay;  and  on  the  north  formed  one  portal  of 
the  Golden  Gate.  The  bell  in  the  little  pioneer  adobe 
church  of  the  missionary  Franciscan  monks  still  tinkled 
at  the  "Mission  Dolores,"  and  though  many  substantial 
buildings  had  arisen  since  the  entrance  on  Statehood,  the 
city  for  the  most  part  still  consisted  of  "cloth  and  paper 
shanties."  The  whole  world  was  sending  the  flower  of 
youth  and  energy  into  the  new  city;  and  to  the  young 

69 


70  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

and  bold  and  adventurous  of  spirit,  San  Francisco,  for  all 
her  newness  and  roughness,  wore  a  charm,  and  even  fascin- 
ation, that  only  they  could  understand.  Should  Oregon 
fail,  this,  to  Henry  George,  seemed  the  place  to  seek  his 
fortune. 

He  had  expected  on  reaching  San  Francisco  to  find  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Curry  telling  him  of  the  Oregon  pros- 
pects, and  perhaps  inviting  him  to  come  up.  When  a  let- 
ter came  to  hand,  several  days  after  his  arrival,  it  con- 
tained no  information  on  this  subject  and  gave  no  counsel, 
and  to  it  he  replied  (May  39,  1858)  : 

"About  an  hour  after  we  dropped  anchor  my  cousin, 
Jim  George,  came  on  board.  I  went  ashore  with  him 
and  spent  the  day.  He  has  his  family  here  and  is  doing 
well.  Although  we  have  been  here  but  a  short  time, 
yet  I  have  already  seen  a  good  deal  of  the  city  and 
agree  with  Emma  that  'it  is  a  dashing  place,'  rather 
faster  than  Philadelphia. 

"My  mind  is  not  fully  made  up  as  to  what  I  shall 
do.  I  should  feel  grateful  for  your  advice.  Please 
write  to  me  as  soon  as  possible.  If  you  still  think  I 
can  do  well  in  Oregon  I  will  go  up  as  soon  as  I 
can  procure  my  discharge  from  the  ship,  which  I  hope 
to  do  in  two  or  three  weeks.  I  do  not  think  I  shall 
remain  where  I  am  at  present,  as  I  wish  to  settle  down 
as  soon  as  possible;  and  the  old  Oregon  fever  has  not 
entirely  died,  as  you  may  judge  from  the  fact  that  I 
write  from  San  Francisco.  I  have  M'orked  hard  and 
long  to  get  here  and  have  at  last  succeeded,  and  I  feel 
convinced  that  the  same  spirit  will  carry  me  through." 

The  "Cousin  Jim  George"  referred  to  was  son  of  Henry's 
Uncle  Dunkin,  his  father's  only  brother.  James  George 
was  book-keeper  for  the  retail  clothing  firm  of  J.  M. 
Strowbridge  &  Co.,  doing  business  at  Commercial  and 
Sansome   streets,   and   composed  of  Jerome   and   W.    C. 


Age,  19]  LEAVES  THE   "SHUBRICK"  71 

Strowbridge  and  E.  F.  Childs.  Childs  had  a  young  broth- 
er-in-law there  named  George  B.  Wilbur,  a  Ehode  Island 
Yankee,  who  had  gone  to  California  with  the  hope  shared 
by  almost  everyone  going  there — of  finding  a  fortune. 
Wilbur  and  Henry  George  became  acquainted,  and  Wil- 
bur showed  the  newcomer  around  town ;  thereby  beginning 
a  friendship  that  was  to  be  of  mutual  use  in  the  near 
3^ears,  and  though  their  aptitude  and  careers  became  dis- 
tinct, was  to  last  to  the  end  of  life. 

And  now  since  the  prizes  ashore  seemed  large  and  many 
for  him  who  was  free  and  could  move  quickly,  young 
George  had  resolved  not  only  not  to  remain  at  sea,  but 
not  even  to  embrace  the  prospect  of  a  place  in  the  Navy 
Yard  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  which  Commander  DeCamp, 
who  expected  to  be  stationed  there,  had  talked  of  helping 
him  to  get.  Though  he  had  no  fixed  plans,  yet  it  was 
the  boy's  wish  to  be  free,  and  free  at  once.  The  obstacle 
was  the  Sliub  rich's  shipping  articles,  which  he,  like  every- 
one else  on  board,  had  been  compelled  to  sign  at  Philadel- 
phia for  one  year's  service,  and  which  would  hold  him 
until  November  11,  1858.  He  talked  the  thing  over  with 
Ellen  George,  James  George's  wife,  a  warm-hearted,  sym- 
pathetic woman,  who  showed  a  lively  interest  in  the  youth's 
affairs.  It  was  agreed  that  he  should  go  into  retirement 
for  awhile,  seeking  the  seclusion  of  a  bed  at  her  house, 
while  she  should  confer  with  Commander  De  Camp,  which 
she  did.  The  Commander,  as  a  consequence,  failed  to 
notice  the  absence  of  the  boy,  who,  after  a  short  season 
of  this  retirement,  regarded  himself  as  free  of  the 
Sliubrich^  and  at  liberty  to  go  where  he  would.     But  as  yet 

1  Though  the  Shicbrick's  record  shows  that  later  on  there  were  a 
number  of  desertions  among  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  vessel,  there  is 
no  indication  whatever  as  to  when  Henry  George  left,  or  that  he  did  not 
remain  until  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  —  Nov.  11,  1858. 


72  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [i858 

no  word  of  encouragement  came  from  Oregon;  nor  in 
San  Francisco,  though  he  looked  about  him,  did  any  invit- 
ing opening  appear,  so  that  he  was  left  in  idleness,  consum- 
ing his  little  store  of  money  consisting  of  wages  earned  on 
the  Shubrick.  All  the  while  letters  were  coming  from 
home  which  yet  had  a  strong  influence  over  him.  From 
his  mother  (April  3,  1858)  : 

"There  is  nothing  stirring  or  startling  in  this  great 
city.  Eeligion  seems  to  be  the  all-engrossing  subject. 
Christians  are  looking  for  great  results  from  this  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit.     Look  to  Jesus,  my  dear  child.'' 

From  his  mother  (May  3)  : 

"0  my  dear  boy :  how  much  you  occupy  my  thoughts. 
Sleeping  and  waking  your  whereabouts,  your  doings, 
your  comfort,  your  conduct,  your  prospects  and  a  thou- 
sand other  things  fill  my  mind.  Away  from  all  you  love 
and  those  who  love  you  and  would  counsel  you,  0  seek, 
my  child,  that  wisdom  that  cometh  from  above.  Then 
you  will  need  no  other  counsellor." 

From  his  father  (May  18)  : 

"We  have  accounts  to-day  that  Brigham  Young,  the 
Mormon  scamp,  has  submitted  to  the  United  States 
authority  and  that  forces  are  entering  Salt  Lake  City. 
I  hope  it  may  be  true.  I  should  like  to  see  him  pun- 
ished for  his  rebellion." 

From  his  Sister  Jennie  (June  3)  : 

"I  dreamed  of  you,  Henry,  not  long  ago  for  three 
nights  in  succession,  and  I  thought  each  night  that  you 
had  returned  home.  I  thought  I  came  home  from 
school  and  saw  you  sitting  in  the  rocking  chair  in  the 


Age,  19]  EARLY  TIES  OF  AFFECTION  73 

front  parlour.  I  ran  to  you  and  just  as  you  kissed  me 
I  woke  up.  I  was  glad  that  I  was  in  time  for  the  kiss 
anyhow." 

The  same  intense  affection  that  Henry  George  kindled 
in  the  friends  of  his  manhood  was  shown  for  him  by  the 
friends  of  his  youth.  The  evidence  of  this  on  the  part  of 
Jeffreys  we  have  already  seen.^  A  letter  from  Jennie  George 
(July  2)  tells  about  Charlie  Walton: 

"Charlie  Walton  came  around  the  other  evening, 
.  .  .  He  said  that  you  had  written  four  or  five  let- 
ters to  Jo  Jeffreys  and  but  one  to  him.  I  never  saw 
him  in  such  a  rage.  He  really  almost  cried.  I  pacified 
him  as  much  as  I  could  and  he  went  away  a  little  cooler 
than  he  came.  I  really  believe  he  thinks  more  of  you 
than  any  of  the  other  boys." 

This  from  Edmund  Wallazz  who  had  been  a  printer  in 
King  and  Baird's  and  who  was  now  a  man  of  about  twenty- 
seven  (July  15)  : 

"Your  letters  dated  the  15  and  19  ult.,  received 
this  morning.     .     .     . 

"To  imderstand  my  feeling  of  a  peculiar  relation  ex- 
isting between  us  I  will  mention  the  feelings  which  I 
experienced  when  we  first  heard  of  the  yellow  fever  on 
board  the  Shuhricl-.  Jeffreys  told  me  of  the  report 
and  of  your  father's  fears  near  midnight  of  a  day,  I 
think,  in  the  latter  part  of  February  or  the  early  part 
of  March.  I  was  at  first  stunned ;  a  cold,  chilly  sensa- 
tion overpowered  me  for  a  few  minutes;  but  after 
awhile  I  said,  with  an  earnestness  which  made  Jeffreys 
look  surprised :  'Harry  is  not  dead.  If  he  were  I  should 
know  it.'  He  asked  if  I  believed  in  ghosts.  Of  course 
not,  in  the  vulgar  idea  of  ghosts.     And  yet  I  felt  certain 

1  Page  61. 


74  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

that  if  you  were  dead  I  should  be  informed  of  it.  Nay, 
more.  So  strong  was  this  feeling  that  for  several  days 
I  sat  alone  in  the  dark  at  midnight  waiting  for  you. 
And  in  those  hours  of  terrible  suspense  how  cften  did 
I  think  of  your  probable  death,  and  picture  your  poor 
body  tossed  about  by  the  billows  of  the  Southern  At- 
lantic, far,  far  from  all  who  loved  you !  Firmly,  I  be- 
lieve, if  you  had  been  dead,  and  if  you  had  come  to  me, 
I  would  not  have  been  frightened  at  all,  only  awe-struck, 
and  it  may  be  heart- wrung,  by  the  thought  that  my  ad- 
vice had  much  to  do  with  your  going.  But  let  this  rest 
forever  now.  You  cannot  doubt  my  love;  I  cannot 
doubt  yours." 


But  now  Henry  George  was  ready  to  act.  For  in  June 
had  come  the  thrilling  news  of  large  gold  discoveries  just 
over  the  American  line,  in  the  British  possessions,  on 
the  Frazer  Eiver,  not  far  from  its  mouth.  There  was 
much  excitement  in  San  Francisco,  especially  among  that 
multitude  of  prospectors  and  adventurers,  who,  finding 
all  the  then  known  placer  lands  in  California  worked  out 
or  appropriated,  and  not  willing  to  turn  to  the  slow  pur- 
suits of  agriculture,  had  gathered  in  the  city  with  nothing 
to  do.  A  mad  scramble  for  the  new  fields  ensued,  and  so 
great  was  the  rush  from  this  and  other  parts  that  fifty 
thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  poured  into  the  Frazer 
Eiver  region  within  the  space  of  a  few  weeks.  Indeed, 
all  who  did  not  have  profitable  or  promising  employment 
tried  to  get  away,  and  the  8huhric¥s  log  shows  that  most 
of  her  officers  and  crew  deserted  for  the  gold  fields.^ 

1  "There  is  no  mystery  as  to  the  cause  which  so  suddenly  and  so  largely 
raised  wages  in  California  in  1849,  and  in  Australia  in  1852.  It  was  the 
discovery  of  placer  mines  in  unappropriated  land  to  which  labour  was  free 
that  raised  the  wages  of  cooks  in  San  Francisco  restaurants  to  $500  a 
month,  and  left  ships  to  rot  in  the  harbour  without  officers  or  crew  until 
their  owners  would  consent  to  pay  rates  that  in  any  other  part  of  the 


Age,  19]  NEWS  OF  GOLD  DISCOVERIES  75 

James  George  was  doing  well  with  the  San  Francisco 
clothing  house,  but  caught  in  the  gold  excitement,  he 
thought  he  saw  a  chance  for  a  fortune  in  the  sale  of  min- 
er's supplies;  and  he  formed  a  co-partnership  with  0.  F. 
Giffin,  of  San  Francisco,  a  dealer  in  nuts,  dried  fruits, 
etc.,  doing  business  on  Front  Street,  between  Sacramento 
and  Clay.  The  agreement  was  that  James  was  to  go  to 
Victoria,  on  Vancouver's  Island,  just  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Frazer,  and  open  a  miner's  supply  store. 

This  project  of  James  George's  had  much  attractive- 
ness for  Henry  George,  but  he  resolved  to  be  cautious  and 
not  venture  on  reports  that  might  prove  to  be  false.  To 
Martha  Curry,  who  now  had  become  Mrs.  Malthrop,  he 
wrote  (June  39)  : 

"I  have  left  the  steamer  I  came  out  in  and  am  now 
staying  at  the  same  house  as  my  cousin.  In  all  proba- 
bility I  will  be  able  to  get  employment  of  some  kind 
in  a  few  days.  I  think  I  shall  stay  here  until  next 
spring,  and  then,  if  the  diggings  on  Frazer  River  turn 
out  to  be  as  good  as  reported,  I  shall  go  up  there.    .    .    . 

"Messrs.  Byron  and  Pipe  are  both  well,  though  rather 
the  worse  for  their  long  journey  and  long  handling." 

A  few  days  following  this  came  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Curry 
(July  9)  that  ended  all  present  thought  of  Oregon  and 
increased  that  of  the  Frazer  River.  "As  for  this  place," 
wrote  she,  "business  is  dull.  The  mines  seem  to  be  the 
all-absorbing  theme."  So  with  hope  of  Oregon  closed  and 
with  no  chance  of  work  offering  in  San  Francisco,  the 

globe  seemed  fabulous.  Had  these  mines  been  on  appropriated  land,  or 
had  they  been  immediately  monopolised  so  that  rent  could  have  arisen, 
it  would  have  been  land  values  that  would  have  leaped  upward,  not 
wages."  —  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  Book  V.  chap,  ii  (Memorial  Edition, 
p.  290). 


76  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858 

young  man  found  himself  urged  along  the  line  of  his 
inclinations — toward  the  Frazer;  and  with  the  promise 
from  his  cousin  James  of  employment  as  clerk  in  the 
store,  should  he  fail  at  the  diggings,  Henry  George's  hopes 
burned  high  and  he  Avrote  home  of  golden  expectations. 
But  the  news  of  his  starting  for  Victoria  carried  some- 
thing like  dismay  to  the  quiet  home  in  Philadelphia.  His 
mother  wrote  (August  15)  : 

"I  think  this  money-getting  is  attended  with  too  many 
sacrifices.  I  wished  it  all  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
when  I  heard  of  your  going  to  Victoria,  but  since  it 
has  been  explained  to  me  I  feel  better.  ...  I  shall 
never  feel  comfortable  until  you  are  settled  down  quietly 
at  some  permanent  business.  This  making  haste  to 
grow  rich  is  attended  with  snares  and  temptations  and 
a  great  weariness  of  the  flesh.  It  is  not  the  whole  of 
life,  this  getting  of  gold.  When  you  write  explain  about 
the  place  and  how  you  are  situated.  Then  we  will 
look  on  the  bright  side." 

A  month  later  (September  18)  she  wrote: 

"We  all  feel  happy  and  thankful  that  you  have  ar- 
rived safely  at  Victoria  and  that  your  prospects  appear 
bright.  Don't  be  too  anxious  or  too  sanguine.  This 
making  haste  to  be  rich  I  am  afraid  of.  Kemember 
you  are  but  young.  We  do  not  expect  great  things  as 
yet.  You  have  just  passed  your  nineteenth  birthday, 
bid  you  think  of  it,  or  were  you  too  busy  ?  If  you  had 
been  home  we  would  have  had  a  jollification.  What  a 
kissing  time  there  would  have  been,  playing  Copenhagen 
and  so  forth.  Hen,  kissing  is  quite  out  of  the  fashion 
since  you  left;  no  kissing  parties  at  all,  I  believe." 

His  father  in  the  same  letter  wrote: 

"Your  letter  from  Victoria  came  safe  to  hand  and 
you  may  be  sure  we  were  glad  to  receive  it.     I  had  be- 


Age,  19]  WORKS  HIS  WAY  AS  SEAMAN  77 

come  quite  anxious  about  you,  inasmuch  that  your  last 
letter  gave  us  the  information  that  you  were  off  on  a 
trading  expedition.  I  did  not  know  how  you  would  be 
situated,  but  now  I  feel  more  reconciled  and  think  that 
your  chances  are  fair.  But  I  hope  you  will  not  build 
your  castle  in  the  air.  Fortunes  are  not  to  be  made 
in  a  hurry;  it  takes  time  and  application.  However, 
I  say  again,  your  prospects  are  fair.  Nurse  your  means 
and  use  all  the  economy  you  can  and  I  think  in  the  end 
a  fortune  will  be  sure.  Still,  my  dear  son,  consider; 
contentment  is  better  than  both  hands  full  with  labour 
and  travel." 

Henr}'  George,  working  his  way  as  seaman  on  a  top- 
sail schooner,  reached  Victoria  when  the  excitement  was 
at  the  flood.  That  place,  established  in  1843  as  a  trad- 
ing-fort of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company — those  pioneers  of 
commerce  through  the  north-western  part  of  the  conti- 
nent— and  beautifully  situated  on  Vancouver's  Island  in 
the  majestic  Puget  Sound,  had,  with  the  gold  discoveries, 
suddenly  swelled  in  population,  until  it  was  estimated  that 
at  times  ten  thousand  miners,  in  sheds  and  tents,  gath- 
ered about  the  more  substantial  structures. 

Henry  George  arrived  at  Victoria  when  the  river,  still 
at  the  season  that  rains  and  melting  snows  on  its  great 
mountain  water-sheds  swelled  high  its  volume,  came  tear- 
ing down  its  long,  twisting  course  and  rushed  through 
its  rocky  gorges  like  a  roaring  flood  of  destruction,  earn- 
ing the  name  sometimes  given  it — "The  Terrible  Frazer," 
The  gold  had  been  found  at  Yale  and  Fort  Hope,  a  hun- 
dred miles  up  stream,  in  the  exposed  bars  and  the  bed  of 
the  river  when  the  water  was  low,  so  that  with  the  water  in 
flood,  all  gold-seeking  operations  had  to  come  to  a  stand- 
still and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  until  the 
water  had  subsided.  The  young  fortune  hunter,  there- 
fore, went  into  James  George's  store. 


78  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

The  store  was  in  a  rough  wooden  structure  of  one  story 
and  an  attic,  or  rather  loft.  It  stood  on  Wharf  Street, 
beside  the  Victoria  hotel,  facing  the  harbour.  Henry 
George  worked  very  hard  there.  Part  of  the  time  he  slept 
in  the  loft,  reaching  it  by  a  ladder.  He  fastened  a  note 
outside  the  street  door  inviting  customers  who  came  out 
of  the  regular  hours  to  "Please  give  this  door  a  kick."  In 
a  letter  to  his  Sister  Jennie  subsequently  from  San  Fran- 
cisco (December  6,  1858)  he  said: 

"You  innocently  ask  whether  I  made  my  own  bed  at 
Victoria.  Why,  bless  you,  my  dear  little  sister !  I  had 
none  to  make.  Part  of  the  time  I  slept  rolled  up  in 
my  blanket  on  the  counter,  or  on  a  pile  of  flour,  and 
afterwards  I  had  a  straw  mattress  on  some  boards.  The 
only  difference  between  my  sleeping  and  waking  cos- 
tumes was  that  during  the  day  I  wore  both  boots  and 
cap,  and  at  night  dispensed  with  them." 

But  the  full  picture  of  his  condition  was  not  at  once 
revealed  to  the  folks  at  home.  He  had  on  starting  for 
Victoria  written  of  such  large  expectations  that  pride  now 
prevented  him  from  saying  more  than  he  could  help  about 
the  poor  results.     Jo  Jeffreys  wrote  (October  3)  : 

"There  is  one  remarkable  thing  in  your  letters,  or 
rather  not  in  your  letters,  which  is  this,  that  you  fail 
to  say  whether  you  are  prospering  at  all  in  your  present 
business,  or  even  if  it  supports  you,  and  which  I  cer- 
tainly should  be  glad  to  hear." 

From  his  Sister  Carrie  (October  4)  : 

"How  I  should  like  to  see  you  in  youi?  new  situation. 
Your  account  of  your  cooking  is  quite  laughable.  I 
should  just  like  to  look  in  upon  you  while  you  were  thus 
engaged  and  see  what  kind  of  a  cook  you  make." 


Age,  19]  JOHN   SHAEP'S   ADVICE  79 

His  father  wrote  him  a  letter  containing  worldly  wisdom 
(October  4)  : 

"We  have  all  sorts  of  things  going  on  here  in  Phila- 
delphia. On  the  first  of  September  we  had  the  grand 
Ocean  Telegraph  celebration,  though  the  cable  has  never 
spoken  since,  and  I  have  great  doubts  that  it  ever  will. 
Yet  a  great  thing  has  been  accomplished;  or  at  any 
rate,  if  the  practicability  of  a  lightning  rod  through 
the  ocean  be  not  accomplished  in  my  day,  it  will  be  in 
yours. 

"Uncle  Joseph  Van  Dusen  took  dinner  with  us  yester- 
day. He  seems  much  pleased  with  your  present  pros- 
pects and  bade  me  when  I  wrote  to  say  that  if  this 
thing  should  be  successful  their  house  would  be  glad 
to  send  you  a  load  of  goods  direct  which  would  cost 
much  less  than  at  San  Francisco.  About  that  I  do  not 
know — I  mean  as  regards  cheapness.  You  know  Uncle 
Joseph  and  his  partners.  Show  them  where  they  can 
invest  safely  and  profitably  and  they  have  the  means 
and  the  nerve.  This  information  may  in  the  future,  if 
this  thing  succeeds,  be  of  great  advantage  to  James  and 
yourself.  Kecollect  old  John  Sharp's  advice:  'When 
thee  makes  a  friend  use  him  and  keep  him.' 

"We  are  all  well.  Tom  [one  of  Henry's  brothers]  is 
Just  promoted  in  school  and  is  making  very  good  prog- 
ress. He  is  sharp,  and  will,  if  spared,  make  a  smart 
and  active  man.  I  don't  think  I  told  you  of  his  Fourth 
of  July  speech  at  dinner.  When  we  were  about  half 
through  Tom  rose  and  said:  'Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
This  is  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have  sat  down 
to  a  Fourth  of  July  dinner  without  ice-cream.  I  will, 
therefore,  put  the  question.  All  who  are  in  favour  of 
ice-cream  will  please  say,  aye.'  Of  course  it  was  unani- 
mously carried,  to  the  joy  of  all  present.  After  he 
found  it  so,  he  very  gracefully  turned  to  me,  saying: 
*It  is  carried  unanimously,  Mr.  Chairman.  Will  you 
please  advance  the  money?'  I  could  not  get  out  of 
this,  and  put  up  fifty  cents,  which  proved  to  be  satis- 
factory." 


80  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i858 

Ferdinand  Formhals,  now  a  well-known  citizen  of  San 
Francisco,  who  had  charge  of  a  stove  and  tinAvare  store 
beside  James  George's  store  on  Wharf  Street,  Victoria,  says 
that  he  knew  Henry  George  there,  and  that  "George  had 
nothing  to  say  about  the  single  tax  or  political  economy 
then."  Yet  that  the  youth's  mind  was  even  then  quietly 
at  work  is  proved  by  a  speech  he  made  in  San  Francisco 
thirty-two  years  later  :^ 

"Let  me,  since  I  am  in  San  Francisco,  speak  of  the 
genesis  of  my  own  thought.  I  came  out  here  at  an 
early  age,  and  knew  nothing  whatever  of  political  econ- 
omy. I  had  never  intently  thought  upon  any  social 
problem.  One  of  the  first  times  I  recollect  talking  on 
such  a  subject  was  one  day,  when  I  was  about  eighteen, 
after  I  had  come  to  this  country,  while  sitting  on  the 
deck  of  a  topsail  schooner  with  a  lot  of  miners  on  the 
way  to  the  Frazer  Eiver.  We  got  talking  about  the  Chi- 
nese, and  I  ventured  to  ask  what  harm  they  were  doing 
here,  if,  as  these  miners  said,  they  were  only  working 
the  cheap  diggings  ?  'No  harm  now/  said  an  old  miner, 
'but  wages  will  not  always  be  as  high  as  they  are  to- 
day in  California.  As  the  country  grows,  as  people 
come  in,  wages  will  go  down,  and  some  day  or  other 
white  men  will  be  glad  to  get  those  diggings  that  the 
Chinamen  are  now  working.'  And  I  well  remember 
how  it  impressed  me,  the  idea  that  as  the  country  grew 
in  all  that  we  are  hoping  that  it  might  grow,  the  con- 
dition of  those  who  had  to  work  for  their  living  must 
become,  not  better,  but  worse." 

But  now  something  caused  a  falling  out  between  the 
cousins.  What  the  trouble  was  does  not  appear,  though 
in  after  years  Henry  George  said  that  he  had  "behaved 
badly  towards  Jim  George."  The  offence  could  not  have 
been  grave,  as  they  were  on  the  old  friendly  terms  soon 
again  in  San  Francisco.     But  however  this  may  be,  Henry 

1  Metropolitan  Hall,  Feb.  4,  1890. 


Age,  19] 


GENESIS  OF  HIS  THOUGHT  81 


left  James'  employ  and  went  to  live  in  a  tent  with  George 
Wilbur,  who  had  come  up  from  San  Francisco  to  dig  gold. 
Wilbur  had  since  his  arrival  made  an  unsuccessful  trip 
up  the  river,  but  was  determined  to  try  again.  Mean- 
while he  was  driving  a  water  cart  for  a  living.  Henry 
George  proposed  to  go  up  the  river  with  Wilbur,  but  be- 
fore they  could  set  off  they  were  daunted  by  the  stories 
of  failure  that  returning  miners  were  bringing  down. 
While  in  this  wavering  state  of  mind,  Ferdinand  Formlials 
gave  Henry  George  information  that  caused  him  to  aban- 
don the  project.  Formlials  was  something  of  a  chemist 
and  had  from  curiosity  been  analysing  some  of  the  sam- 
ples of  "pure  gold  from  the  river"  that  were  being  handed 
about,  and  found  them  to  be  a  mixture  of  tin,  lead  and 
other  metals.  He  believed  that  there  was  some  gold  at 
the  diggings,  but  only  a  little — not  enough  to  be  worth 
searching  for.  Time  has  confirmed  Formhals'  judgment, 
comparatively  little  gold  having  at  any  time  been  taken 
out  of  this  part  of  the  Frazer  River,  the  really  rich  de- 
posits being  found  in  the  Cariboo  region,  several  hundred 
miles  farther  up;  but  these  places  were  not  discovered  for 
a  number  of  years  afterwards. 

Hope  of  finding  a  fortune  at  the  diggings  thus  closing 
before  him,  and  having  no  other  employment,  and  for  that 
matter  without  prospect  of  any  at  Victoria,  Henry  George 
decided  to  return  at  once  to  San  Francisco,  and  when 
there,  should  no  opening  offer,  to  take  again  to  the  sea, 
and  keep  to  it  as  a  calling.  With  this  determination,  he 
borrowed  enough  money  from  George  Wilbur  and  others 
to  buy  steerage  passage  down  to  San  Francisco.  George 
Wilbur  says  of  the  setting  off: 

"He  had  no  coat;  so  I  gave  him  mine.     An  old  fel- 
low named  Wolff  peddled  pies  among  the  tents,  and 


82  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1868 

thinking  that  Harry  would  enjoy  these  more  than  the 
food  he  would  get  aboard  the  ship,  we  bought  six  of 
them,  and  as  he  had  no  trunk,  we  put  them  in  his  bunk, 
and  drew  the  blanket  over  them  so  that  nobody  would 
see  them  and  steal  them.  He  wrote  me  from  San  Fran- 
cisco when  he  got  down  that  the  first  night  out  he  was 
so  tired  that  he  threw  himself  down  on  his  bunk  with- 
out undressing,  and  that  he  did  not  think  of  the  pies 
until  the  morning,  when  he  found  that  he  had  been 
lying  on  top  of  them  all  night." 


CHAPTEE  VL 
TOSSED  ABOUT  BY  FOETUNE. 

1858-1859.  Age,  19-20. 

TOWAEDS  the  end  of  November,  1858,  Henry  George 
arrived  at  San  Francisco  from  Victoria  "dead  broke." 
And  now  commenced  a -stretch  of  years  notable  for  a  rest- 
less pitching  about,  with  shifting  scenes  of  prosperity  and 
adversity — years,  though,  that  showed  progress,  if  irregu- 
lar and  jolting. 

This  period  opened  with  soft  sunshine,  for  as  the  im- 
pecunious youth  walked  the  streets,  meeting  only  strange 
faces  and  getting  only  rebuffs  when  he  applied  for  work, 
and  when  his  mind  had  again  turned  to  the  sea  as  a  means 
of  livelihood,  he  came  face  to  face  with  David  Bond,  a 
compositor  whom  he  had  known  at  King  &  Baird's  print- 
ing house  in  Philadelphia.  Learning  of  his  plight.  Bond 
took  him  to  Frank  Eastman's  printing  office  and  got  him 
employment  to  set  type.  The  next  letter  home  breathed 
of  prosperity.  To  his  Sister  Jennie  (December  6)  he 
said: 

"I  am  at  present  working  in  a  printing  office  and 
am,  therefore,  busy  all  day,  and  the  evenings  I  spend 
in  reading,  unless  (as  is  often  the  case)  I  go  to  see 
EUie  George. 

"After  being  deprived  of  reading  for  such  a  time, 

83 


84  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1858-1859 

it  is  quite  delightful  to  be  able  to  read  as  much  as  I 
wish.  In  the  house  in  which  I  am  stopping  there  is  a 
good  library,  which  to  me  is  one  of  its  prominent  at- 
tractions. 

"I  am  glad  that  you  are  so  nearly  through  school. 
How  would  you  like  to  come  out  here  and  teach  ?  Teach- 
ers here  get  very  good  pay,  the  lowest — the  A,  B,  C, 
teachers — getting  $50  per  month;  the  principals,  $200. 
Bllie  George  gets  $100  a  month.  Lady's  board  costs 
from  $25  to  $30  per  month. 

"Women  are  sadly  wanted  here.  In  Victoria  there 
are  hardly  any,  and  you  can  plainly  see  the  effects  of 
the  absence  of  women  on  society  at  large. 

"I  have  few  acquaintances  either  here  or  in  Victoria 
— I  mean  boys  or  men.  Don't  on  any  consideration 
think  I  have  thought  of  girls,  for  I  haven't  seen  one  to 
sj)eak  to,  save  those  I  told  you  about,  since  I  left  Phila- 
delphia. But  I  suppose  in  some  respects  it  is  much  bet- 
ter, as  I  spend  less  money. 

"I  am  boarding  now,  and  have  been  for  these  past 
two  weeks  in  the  'What  Cheer  House,'  the  largest,  if 
not  the  finest,  hotel  in  the  place.  I  pay  $9  per  week 
and  have  a  beautiful  little  room  and  first  rate  living. 

"I  get  $16  per  week  the  way  I  am  working  now,  but 
will  soon  strike  into  something  that  will  pay  me  bet- 
ter.    .     .     . 

"I  suppose  you  have  all  grown  somewhat  since  I  left. 
I  have  not  changed  much,  except  that  I  am  even 
uglier  and  rougher  looking.  You  thought  I  looked  hard 
when  I  came  home  from  Calcutta,  but  you  should  have 
seen  me  in  Victoria! 

"How  I  should  like  to  be  home  to-night,  if  only  for 
an  hour  or  two. 

"Give  my  love  and  respects  to  all.  I  would  write  to 
them  if  I  wasn't  so  lazy.  (You  see  I  call  things  by 
their  right  names  once  in  a  while.) 

"So  good-bye  my  dear  sister.  I  will  write  you  a 
longer  letter  when  I  feel  more  like  it. 

"Your  affectionate  brother, 

"H.  George." 


Age,  19-20]  GRANT   AT   THE  SAME   HOUSE  85 

"P.  S.  Wouldn't  that  signature  look  nice  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  check  for  $1,000 — that  is,  if  I  had  the  money 
in  the  bank." 


Four  years  before  young  George  wrote  this  letter  a 
young  man  of  thirty-two  named  Ulysses  S.  Grant  had  for 
a  short  time  slept  in  an  attic  room  in  this  same  hotel,  the 
"What  Cheer  House."  He  had  come  down  from  Ft.  Van- 
couver, Columbia  Eiver,  where,  utterly  disgusted  with  him- 
self and  the  life  he  was  leading,  he  had  resigned  from  a 
captaincy  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  was,  when  in  San 
Francisco,  trying  to  make  his  way  eastward  with  a  view 
to  going  into  business  or  farming.  Fame  was  to  claim 
hini  in  the  rapidly  approaching  events. 

The  "What  Cheer  House"  still  stands  and  is  doing  busi- 
ness, though  in  a  humble  way.  In  the  fifties  it  was  the 
best  house  of  its  kind  in  the  city.  A  temperance  hotel, 
and  a  model  of  propriety  and  cleanliness,  it  was  for  the 
accommodation  of  men  entirely.  No  women  were  ever 
received  and  not  one  was  engaged  on  the  premises.  It 
was  established  by  E.  B.  Woodward,  a  New  Englander, 
who  from  its  proceeds  founded  Woodward's  Gardens,  fa- 
mous all  over  the  Pacific  Coast  for  more  than  two  decades 
as  a  beautiful  pleasure  resort,  containing  a  menagerie,  a 
museum,  a  theatre,  an  art  gallery,  an  aquarium  and  a 
variety  of  other  attractions.  One  of  the  distinguishing 
features  of  this  house  was  a  little  library,  numbering  sev- 
eral hundred  volumes,  well  selected,  and  among  them  some 
economic  works.  Hon.  James  V.  Coffey,  who  twelve  or 
fourteen  years  later  became  an  intimate  friend  of  Henry 
George's,  questioning  him  as  to  where  he  had  during  his 
busy  life  found  time  and  books  to  read,  was  told  that  his 
solid  reading  was  begun  in  this  little  library,  while  stay- 
ing at  the  "What  Cheer  House"  and  at  intervals  following : 


86  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

"Mr.  George  told  me  that  he  spent  much  of  his  time 
when  out  of  work  in  that  little  room  and  that  he  had 
read  most  of  the  books.  That,  he  said,  was  the  first 
place  he  saw  Adam  Smith's  'Wealth  of  I^ations,'  though 
I  cannot  remember  that  he  said  he  read  it  then.  In- 
deed, in  his  last  writings,  he  has  said  that  he  did  not 
read  a  line  of  Adam  Smith  until  long  after  this  period." 

This  new  state  of  things  gave  Eichard  George,  the 
father,  undisguised  satisfaction.  He  wrote  (January 
19,  1859)  : 

"I  rejoice  to  find  that  you  are  doing  so  well.  You 
now  see  the  propriety  of  a  young  man  just  starting  in 
life  having  some  trade  to  fall  back  on  in  time  of  need, 
and  you  will  say,  'Pop  was  right,  not  only  in  this,  but 
in  many  other  things  in  which  I  dissented.' 

"However,  so  far  God  has  ordered  all  things  well,  and 
my  earnest  and  sincere  prayer  is  that  he  may  still  watch 
over  you  until  he  brings  all  at  last  to  his  eternal  King- 
dom.    .     .     . 

"My  dear  boy,  let  me  say  again  to  you:  Be  careful 
and  nurse  your  means;  lay  up  all  you  can  and  owe  no 
man  anything  and  you  will  be  safe.  Do  not  let  others 
entice  you.  Act  on  your  own  judgment,  and  I  hope 
and  trust  before  I  am  called  hence,  to  see  you  return 
prosperous  and  happy,  which  may  God  grant." 

His  mother  took  up  another  matter  (February  2)  : 

"I  am  very  glad  you  have  left  Victoria  and  have 
some  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and  sorry  to  hear  that 
Ellen  is  going  there.  I  should  not  think  that  Jim 
would  want  her  until  he  could  make  things  more  com- 
fortable, and  the  people  were  more  civilised — better  so- 
ciety, a  few  of  her  own  sex,  at  least.  But  this,  you  say, 
is  what  they  want — women.  Ellen  will  be  a  star  of  the 
first  magnitude.  Then  I  hope  she  will  persuade  others 
to  go  Avith  her — some  that  have  husbands  there.     Then 


Age,  10-20)  NEED  OF  WOMEN'S  SOCIETY  87 

there  will  soon  be  a  better  state  of  things.  A  writer  of 
great  celebrity  has  said:  'All  men  that  avoid  female 
society  have  dull  perceptions  and  are  stupid,  or  have 
gross  tastes  and  revolt  against  what  is  pure.'  One  of 
•  the  great  benefits  a  man  may  derive  from  women's  so- 
ciety is  that  he  is  bound  to  be  respectful  to  them.  The 
habit  is  of  great  good  to  your  moral  man.  There  is 
somebody  to  whom  he  is  bound  to  be  constantly  atten- 
tive and  respectful.  Moreover,  this  elevates  and  refines 
him. 

"What  will  you  do  without  Ellen  and  the  children? 
.  .  .  Have  you  made  no  other  acquaintances?  Is 
there  no  other  place  you  visit?" 

Jo  Jeffreys  had  a  word  of  advice  (February  3)  : 

"After  having  talked  with  Ned  Wallazz  and  Billy 
Jones  for  some  three  hours,  I  turn  with  great  pleasure 
to  the  consideration  of  you,  my  very  respectable  and 
respected  friend. 

"It  was  not  my  purpose  to  induce  you  to  follow  the 
legal  profession,  though  I  think  you  in  every  way  capa- 
ble to  discharge  its  responsibilities  with  honour.  I 
meant  by  what  I  said  in  a  former  letter  to  induce  you 
to  adopt  some  one  particular  employ7nent  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  every  other.  If  you  mine,  do  so  until  you  have 
succeeded  in  your  object.  If  you  enter  a  house  as  clerk, 
stay  at  it  in  God's  name.  If  you  should  unfortunately 
resolve  to  follow  printing,  follow  it  with  all  your  abili- 
ties and  energy  until  there  shall  no  longer  be  any  neces- 
sity for  it.  You  will  allow  me  to  say  that  your  great 
fault  (and  I  think  it  is  your  worst  one)  is  that  of  half- 
doing  things,  in  this  sense,  that  you  vacillate  about  the 
execution  of  that  which  alone  secures  permanent  suc- 
cess and  lasting  fame.  Few  men  are  competent  in  one 
lifetime  to  win  honour  by  more  than  one  employment, 
and  these  few  you  would  perhaps  find  were — unlike  you 
— favoured  by  circumstances. 

"Now  you  are  competent  for  any  labour  to  which 
your  inclinations  may  direct  you.     You  are  not  compe- 


88  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

tent  to  succeed  at  a  dozen  emploj^ments,  nor  can  you 
hope  to  amass  a  fortune  by  labouring  at  them  alter- 
nately. If  you  live  on  as  you  are  doing  now,  why,  you 
will  live  on;  you  will  earn  sufficient  to  maintain  you  in 
comfort,  hut  that  is  all.  You  can  hardly  hope  by  min- 
ing one  month,  by  printing  the  next,  and  by  serving 
in  a  clerkship  a  third,  ever  to  arrive  at  a  competence. 

"Why  you  do  this  is  evident.  You  are  dissatisfied, 
either  because  you  are  not  advancing  or  for  trivial  rea- 
sons, and  then  you  undertake  something  different.  Now 
you  cannot  expect  to  avoid  unpleasant  things,  and  you 
cannot  expect  to  jump  on  a  fortune,  like  a  waif  thrown 
away  by  a  thief  in  his  flight.  Success  is  the  reward 
of  long  exertion,  not  the  triumph  of  a  momentary  en- 
ergy. It  is  the  crown  for  which,  like  Cromwell,  you 
must  struggle  long  and  well.  It  is  like  happiness  here- 
after, only  to  be  obtained  by  patient  and  continued  ser- 
vitude.    .     .     . 

"I  wish  I  could  make  you  feel  as  I  do.  You  wouldn't 
then  complain  in  after  life  (as  you  will  do  without  you 
adopt  my  opinions)  of  the  caprice  and  the  wanton  vacil- 
lation of  Fortune's  Goddess.     .     .     , 

"I  recognise  the  difficulties  of  your  position  and  how 
you  are  situated,  and  am  aware  that  you  are  not  at 
liberty  to  strike  out  into  anything,  as  you  were  here. 
But  do  the  best  you  can.  Take  my  advice  wherever 
it's  possible  to  do  it;  I  mean  that  which  respects  your 
employment  and  notwithstanding  other  embarrassing 
difficulties." 

But  notwithstanding  Jo  Jeffreys'  counsel,  a  change 
quickly  came,  for  business  becoming  slack  at  Eastman's 
and  the  other  printing  houses,  George  was  unable  to  fol- 
low his  trade.  But  refusing  to  remain  idle,  he  obtained 
a  position  of  weigher  in  the  rice  mill  of  Waite  &  Battles, 
on  Fremont  Street,  near  Mission.  He  wrote  home  (Feb- 
ruary 16,  1859)  : 

"I  am  still  in  the  rice  mill  and  like  it  very  well.     I 


Age,  19-20]  WEIGHER   IN  A  RICE  MILL  89 

shall  stay,  of  course,  until  I  am  sure  I  can  make  a 
change  for  the  better.  I  have  to  get  up  pretty  early 
though,  and  consequently  retire  early.  Indeed,  you 
would  be  pleased  to  see  what  regular  hours  I  keep.  For 
months  past  10  o'clock  has  invariably  seen  me  in  bed, 
for  I  have  no  friends  here,  and  neither  the  disposition 
nor  the  money  to  go  to  the  theatre  or  other  places  of 
amusement. 

"Everything  is  still  very  dull,  but  the  late  rains,  by 
increasing  the  gold  yield,  will  tend  to  make  times 
better." 


Soon  after  this  George  Wilbur  came  down  from  Vic- 
toria and  Henry  George  and  he  went  to  room  together. 
First  they  lived  in  Natoma  Street,  then  one  of  the  quiet 
residence  portions  of  the  city.  Afterwards  they  roomed 
on  Pine  Street,  Henry  George  taking  his  meals  at  the 
"What  Cheer  House."  Mr.  Wilbur  says  of  his  companion 
at  this  period: 

"Very  soon  after  our  acquaintance  I  discovered  that 
he  was  studious  and  eager  to  acquire  knowledge,  and 
when  we  came  to  room  together  I  frequently  woke  up 
at  night  to  find  him  reading  or  writing.  If  I  said: 
'Good  heavens,  Harry,  what's  the  matter?  Are  you 
sick?'  he'd  tell  me  to  go  to  sleep  or  invite  me  to  get 
dressed  and  go  out  for  a  walk  with  him.  A  spin  around 
for  a  few  blocks  would  do  and  then  we'd  get  to  bed 
again.     I  never  saw  such  a  restless  human  being." 

That  Henry  George  was  in  other  ways  restless  was  clear 
enough.  His  active,  energetic  nature  would  doubtless 
have  made  him  restless  anywhere,  but  in  California  the 
conditions  were  peculiarly  conducive  to  it,  for  it  was  a 
country  where  thousands  of  active,  independent  young 
men  like  himself  were  opening  up  the  richest  mineral 
region  in  the  world ;  a  country  which,  within  twenty  years 


90  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

from  the  first  gold  discovery  in  1818,  was  to  yield  $800,- 
000,000  of  the  precious  metal.^  "California,"  he  wrote 
to  his  Sister  Caroline  in  January,  "is  sadly  in  want  of 
missionaries  and  I  think  it  would  be  a  good  notion  for 
the  Sunday  school  to  send  a  few  out,  provided  they  be 
gold-fever  proof."  As  shown  by  his  Frazer  Eiver  adventure, 
Henry  George  himself  was  not  "gold-fever  proof";  and 
now  he  kept  thinking  of  the  stories  of  fortune  that  were 
coming  in  from  the  California  mines,  and  he  talked  with  a 
young  Philadelphian,  Freeman  A.  Camp,  who  came  to  see 
him  at  the  "What  Cheer  House,"  as  to  the  chances  they 
would  have  there.  His  mother,  doubtless  perceiving  what 
was  floating  through  his  mind,  wrote  (March  3)  : 

"Are  you  getting  lazy?  You  do  not  write  as  long 
letters  as  you  used  to,  nor  tell  us  much  when  you  do 
write.  You  change  your  business  so  often  I  should 
think  you  would  have  a  great  deal  to  tell.  Eemember, 
everything  that  concerns  you  will  interest  us.  .  .  . 
I  suppose  the  old  proverb  does  not  apply  in  California: 
'A  rolling  stone,'  etc.  Be  that  as  it  may,  we  will  re- 
joice when  you  are  settled." 

Two  weeks  later  (March  17)  his  mother  again  wrote: 

"I  am  sorry  Ellie  has  left  you,  though  it  is  all  right; 
she  certainly  should  be  with  her  husband.  I  hope  you 
have  found  some  acquaintances  among  her  friends, 
where  you  can  go  and  spend  a  social  evening.  I  don't 
believe  in  living  without  society,  and  least  of  all  female 
society.  And  here  I  know  you  will  have  to  be  careful, 
for  if  the  women  are  not  of  the  right  stamp,  instead 
of  elevating  and  refining  you,  they  may  prove  your 
ruin.  I  like  your  early  hours,  but  not  your  lonely  ones. 
You  should  have  a  few  good  friends.  Here,  as  in  all 
other  anxieties  concerning  you,  I  can  only  breathe  the 
prayer :  'My  Father,  be  thou  the  guide  of  his  youth.' " 


1  Hittell's  "History  of  California, "  Vol.  HI.  p.  160. 


Age,  19-20]  OFF  FOR  THE  MINES  91 

But  even  if  her  son  had  the  disposition  to  keep  steadily 
at  work,  the  rice  mill  gave  indications  of  temporarily  clos- 
ing dovt^n.     In  April  he  wrote  to  his  Sister  Caroline: 

"We  have  not  been  very  busy  at  the  mill  lately,  ex- 
cept for  a  day  or  two  at  a  time ;  but  this  does  not  make 
much  difference  to  me,  as  I  have  to  stay  there  whether 
busy  or  not.  I  generally  get  up  about  6  a.m.,  go  to  the 
hotel  and  take  breakfast,  and  from  there  to  the  mill.  I 
come  up  again  at  about  half  past  six  in  the  evening, 
eat  supper,  go  into  the  library  and  read  until  about  9 
P.M.,  when  I  come  up  to  the  room  and  write  or  think 
for  an  hour  or  two  and  then  turn  in.  A  pretty  quiet 
way  of  living;  but  there  is  no  telling  what  will  turn 
up  next." 

And  what  did  "turn  up  next"  was  anything  but  quiet, 
for  the  rice  mill  closing  down,  he  was  thrown  out  of  work, 
and  he  started  off  into  the  interior  of  the  State  for  the 
mines. 

The  day  had  passed  when  more  than  the  occasional  man 
could  find  some  overlooked  and  unappropriated  spot  on 
river  bed  or  bar,  where,  with  no  more  equipment  than 
shovel,  pick  and  pan,  he  could  draw  forth  any  consider- 
able amount  of  the  precious  metal.  Though  the  gold- 
bearing  region  of  California,  including  the  northern  mines 
and  the  southern  mines,  extended  from  Mt.  Shasta  to  Mt. 
Whitney  and  embraced  an  area  approximately  as  great  as 
England's  territory,  every  river  bank,  bar  or  bed  giving 
the  slightest  indication  of  gold  had  been  worked  over  and 
over.  The  nature  of  mining  then  became  different. 
From  "wet  diggings"  in  the  river  channels,  operations 
had  turned  to  "dry  diggings"  in  arid  ravines,  hill  slopes 
and  elevated  flats ;  which  led  to  "coyote-hole"  mining  (bur- 
rowing into  the  side  of  hills  or  boring  wells)  ;  to  "hydrau- 
lic mining"   (the  concentration  of  a  powerful  column  of 


92  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  ti858-i859 

water  against  a  hill  or  mountain  side  so  as  to  wash  the 
gravel  or  "pay  dirt''  down  through  the  sluice  box  or 
strainer)  ;  and  lastly  to  "quartz  mining,"  with  its  shafts 
and  tunnels,  stamp  mills  and  heavy  machinery.  Gold  min- 
ing, therefore,  had  changed  its  aspect,  so  that  the  average, 
common  man  could  no  longer  expect  to  find,  except  occa- 
sionally, places  unappropriated,  where,  with  no  special 
knowledge,  or  special  appliances  or  other  capital,  he  could 
find  any  considerable  amount  of  the  precious  metal  or 
where  he  could  "dig"  and  "wash  out"  even  ordinary 
"wages." 

What  drew  most  gold  seekers,  and  what  drew  Henry 
George,  into  the  mining  regions  was  not  so  much  the  hope 
of  mining  in  itself  as  of  "prospecting"  or  "locating  a 
claim" — finding  on  the  unworked  and  unappropriated 
lands  places  that  would  yield  to  the  newer  processes  the 
precious  metal  in  quantities  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  work- 
ing. Such  a  claim  might  be  sold  to  or  worked  on  shares 
by  others  who  had  the  skill  and  capital,  so  that  as  soon 
as  the  rumour  of  a  rich  discovery  had  spread,  multi- 
tudes of  "prospectors"  came  rushing  to  the  locality,  eager 
to  "stake  off  claims."  The  prospector  was,  therefore, 
essentially  one  who  roamed  from  place  to  place  at  the 
beck  of  the  Golden  Goddess;  and  since  she  was  whimsical 
and  beckoned  hither  and  thither,  the  prospector  was  al- 
ways on  the  move. 

There  are  no  clear  evidences  as  to  what  locality  Henry 
George  had  set  his  hopes  on,  though  the  probabilities  are 
that  hearing  in  San  Francisco  confusing  reports  from  a 
hundred  different  points,  he  concluded  to  strike  off  for 
some  nearer  and  more  advantageous  centre,  there  to  deter- 
mine to  which  particular  mining  spot  to  go;  and  it  seems 
likely  that  his  first  objective  point  was  Placerville,  for- 
merly known  as  "Hangtown,"  and  before  that  as  "Dry 


Age,  19-20]  FARM   HAND   AND   TRAMP  93 

Diggings."  For  Placerville  had  not  only  developed  rich 
finds  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  but  in  some  instances  large 
treasure  was  found  by  digging  into  the  very  ground  on 
which  its  cabins  and  houses  stood.  Moreover,  it  was  on 
the  old  emigrant  route  from  the  East  and  the  road  from 
the  Carson  Eiver  to  the  Sacramento  valley;  and  with  its 
stores,  hotels  and  saloons,  was  a  place  of  recreation  and 
supply  for  all  that  region  of  the  Sierras. 

To  purpose  to  go  to  the  mines  was  one  thing;  to  get 
there  was  another,  but  young  George  was  determined. 
"Having  no  other  way  of  reaching  them,"  he  said  subse- 
quently,^ "I  started  out  to  walk.  I  was,  in  fact,  what 
would  now  be  called  a  tramp.  I  had  a  little  money,  but 
I  slept  in  barns  to  save  it  and  had  a  rough  time  gener- 
ally." But  soon  he  had  to  spend  his  money,  and  then 
though  slight  in  build  and  never  what  would  be  called 
muscular,  he  was  forced  to  do  farm  work  and  other  manual 
labour  to  keep  himself  alive.  He  had  got  some  distance 
towards  the  mines,  but  for  sheer  want  of  living  neces- 
saries, could  go  no  farther;  and  with  great  toil,  and  some 
real  suffering,  he  worked  his  way  back  to  San  Francisco. 

This  covered  a  period  of  nearly  two  months — for  physi- 
cal labour  the  hardest  two  months  in  all  his  life — during 
which  time  he  seems  not  to  have  written  a  single  letter 
home.  While  he  was  in  the  mountains,  the  Currys  had 
written  of  an  opportunity  to  set  type  on  the  "Statesman," 
in  Portland,  with  pay  according  to  competency;  but  when 
he  had  got  back  to  San  Francisco  the  time  to  accept  had 
passed.  Then  it  was  that  he  learned  of  the  death  at  Vic- 
toria of  his  sincere  friend,  Ellen  George,  and  this  news, 
taken  with  the  experience  just  closed  and  a  poor  out-look 
for  work  in  San  Francisco,  depressed  his  spirits,  though 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


94  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

he  tried  to  write  cheerfully  home  to  his  Aunt  Mary  (June 
17): 

"Jim  George  has  gone  up  to  Victoria  again,  but  will 
be  down  as  soon  as  he  can  settle  up  his  business,  which 
will  probably  be  in  two  or  three  weeks.  The  children 
are  here  going  to  school;  they  are  in  the  best  health 
and  spirits. 

"We  are  enjoying  splendid  weather,  just  warm  enough, 
though  for  the  last  few  days  it  has  been  quite  hot,  re- 
minding one  of  the  summers  at  home.  For  some  time 
past  we  have  had  plenty  of  green  peas,  strawberries 
and  all  the  early  summer  vegetables  and  fruits.  In 
ten  or  fifteen  years  this  will  be  one  of  the  greatest  fruit 
countries  in  the  world,  for  fruit  trees  are  yearly  being 
set  out  by  the  thousand  and  grape  vines  by  the  million. 

"I  am  doing  nothing  just  now,  but  expect  to  go  to 
work  next  week.  I  have  given  up  all  idea  of  going  to 
the  mines. 

"Frazer  Kiver  seems  to  have  given  out  at  last,  and 
every  steamer  that  comes  down  is  filled  with  miners. 
The  rich  deposits  of  a  month  or  two  ago  appear  to  have 
been  without  foundation. 

"I  must  bring  my  letter  to  a  sudden  close,  for  the 
clock  has  struck  eleven,  and  I  will  just  have  time  to 
get  down  to  the  post  office  to  mail  this.  I  intended 
to  write  a  longer  letter,  but  coming  up  here  I  stopped 
to  look  at  the  operation  of  moving  a  house,  which  must 
have  consumed  more  time  than  I  was  aware  of.  The 
way  they  raise,  lower,  and  pull  big  houses  around  the 
city  here  is  astonishing." 


He  had,  indeed,  given  up  all  hope  of  going  to  the 
mines  and  also  pretty  much  all  hope  of  remaining  ashore, 
where  there  seemed  to  be  no  work  for  him  and  no  future. 
Thoughts  of  the  sea  came  back  in  a  flood  tide.  They 
ranged  along  the  line  of  ocean  heroes,  and  he  asked  him- 
self why  he  should  not  follow  that  calling  and  rise  to 


Age,  19-20]  PARTING   OF  THE  WAYS  95 

fame?  He  was  thinking  earnestly  of  this,  and  stood  af 
the  parting  of  the  ways,  when  his  career  was  decided  as 
if  by  accident.  For  the  second  time  David  Bond,  through 
a  chance  meeting,  offered  a  kindly  service  and  obtained 
for  his  young  friend  a  position  as  compositor — this  time 
on  the  weekly  "Home  Journal"  owned  by  Joseph  C.  Dun- 
can.    Thought  of  a  career  at  sea  never  returned. 

Printer's  wages  in  California  were  at  that  time  still 
high,  the  union  rate  for  piece  work  being  seventy-five  cents 
a  thousand  ems  and  for  time  work  to  the  average  man, 
thirty  dollars  a  week.  But  as  George  was  still  a  minor, 
he  got  only  a  boy's  pay  for  work  in  the  regular  hours — 
twelve  dollars  a  week.  He  resolved  now  to  keep,  if  he 
possibly  could,  to  type-setting  until  he  should  come  of  age 
and  be  qualified  as  a  journeyman.  When  somewhat  set- 
tled he  wrote  to  his  Sister  Jennie  (August  2)  : 

"You  ask  me  about  my  studies.  I  am  afraid  I  do 
not  study  much.  I  have  not  time  and  opportunity  (or 
nearer  the  truth,  perhaps,  will  enough)  to  push  through 
a  regular  course.  But  I  try  to  pick  up  everything  I 
can,  both  by  reading  and  observation,  and  flatter  myself 
that  I  learn  at  least  something  every  day.  My  prin- 
cipal object  now  is  to  learn  my  trade  well,  and  I  am 
pitching  in  with  all  my  strength.  So  anxious  am  I 
now  to  get  ahead  and  make  up  for  lost  time  that  T  never 
feel  happier  than  when  at  work,  and  that,  so  far  from 
being  irksome,  is  a  pleasure.  My  heart  just  now  is 
really  in  my  work.  In  another  year  I'll  be  twenty-one 
and  I  must  be  up  and  doing.  I  have  a  pretty  good 
prospect  ahead  and  think  that  before  many  months  I 
shall  get  into  something  better  where  I  can  make  good 
wages.     .     .     . 

"My  time  is  now  pretty  well  taken  up.  As  soon  as  I 
rise  in  the  morning  I  go  to  breakfast  and  then  imme- 
diately to  work,  which  1  seldom  leave  until  nearly  seven 
o'clock  and  once  in  a  while  not  until  one  or  two  in  the 


96  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

morning.  There  are  only  three  others  in  the  office — 
nice  social  fellows — which  makes  it  pleasant  for  me. 
I  do  not  make  much,  but  I  am  learning  a  good  deal 
and  think  I  have  a  pretty  good  prospect,  so  that  I  am 
quite  satisfied." 

This  contentment  of  mind  was  broken  by  news  of  the 
death  of  the  dearest  friend  of  his  boyhood,  Jo  Jeffreys. 
Mrs.  George  revealed  her  sympathetic  heart  (August  18)  : 

"I  feel  as  though  I  must  say  something  to  you,  but 
my  heart  is  full  of  the  one  theme,  poor  Jeffreys,  poor 
Jo.  0  I  cannot  tell  you  of  the  anguish  I  feel  when  I 
think  of  him,  and  I  can  think  of  nothing  else.  .  .  . 
The  agonising  thought  with  me  is  the  uncertainty  of 
his  state.  0  had  he  time  to  call  upon  his  Saviour;  to 
say:  'God,  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.'     .     .     . 

"0  his  youth,  his  bright  mind,  his  sensitiveness,  his 
love  for  you  made  me  feel  an  interest  in  him  of  no  com- 
mon kind.  I  do  mourn  for  him  sincerely.  I  know 
your  heart  too  well  to  doubt  your  grief. 

"Pop  thought  you  would  like  to  have  a  lock  of  his 
hair." 

By  the  same  mail  Will  Jones  wrote: 

"Poor  Jeffreys  has  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  unan- 
ticipated and  mourned  by  all.  Brilliant  in  life,  flash- 
ing upon  our  vision  as  a  meteor,  and  as  a  meteor  so  soon 
to  be  lost  in  the  impenetrable  gloom  of  night.     .     .     . 

"We  buried  him  at  the  Odd  Fellows'  Cemetery,  in  our 
lot  there,  the  last  tribute  of  regard  I  could  offer.  None 
of  his  family  was  there  save  his  two  brothers,  who  came 
on  from  New  York  to  the  funeral." 

Jo  Jeffreys'  death  was  a  bitter  and  heavy  loss.  It 
snapped  the  tie  of  boyhood.  Henry  George's  life  from 
that  time  forward  was  the  life  of  the  man.  In  November 
(20)  he  wrote  to  his  mother: 


Age,  19-20]  HARPERS'   FERRY  REBELLION  97 

"For  the  past  wtek  we  have  had  beautiful  weather, 
and  I  have  employed  ever}'-  possible  opportunity  to  sun 
myself.  The  shortness  of  the  days  makes  this  almost 
impracticable,  except  on  Sundays,  when  I  generally  take 
a  long  walk  outside  of  the  city. 

"There  is  nothing  of  any  interest  going  on  here  now. 
Even  the  news  of  the  'bloody  Harper's  Ferry  rebellion,' 
couldn't  get  up  the  smallest  kind  of  an  excitement,  ex- 
cept among  the  political  papers.  General  Scott  has 
returned  from  San  Juan,  and  therefore,  all  danger  from 
that  quarter  has  ceased  for  the  present.  Even  the  in- 
terior towns  have  for  the  time  stopped  burning  down; 
so  that,  excepting  the  non-arrival  of  the  mail  steamer, 
we  are  left  without  even  a  decent  topic  of  conversation. 

"Letters  from  the  Currys  are  getting  more  and  more 
like  angel's  visits. 

"I  am  still  pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  my  way — work- 
ing, walking,  reading  and  sleeping. 

"Thursday  is  Thanksgiving  day  for  us  Californians, 
as  I  suppose  it  is  with  you  at  home.  I  shall  try  and 
observe  the  day  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  and  will 
think  of  home  even  more  than  usual.  I  hope  you  will 
have  a  pleasant  time,  and  oh !  how  I  wish  I  could  share 
it  with  you." 

He  wrote  in  this  slighting  manner  of  public  matters  in 
California  doubtless  to  calm  his  mother's  mind  should 
she  hear  rumours  from  the  West;  for  as  a  matter  of  fact 
most  sensational  events  growing  out  of  the  slavery  struggle 
there  were  crowding  into  this  period.  Only  the  year  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  had  delivered  a  deci- 
sion in  the  case  of  a  negro  named  Archy  which  was  de- 
scribed as  "giving  the  law  to  the  North  and  the  nigger  to 
the  South."  And  now,  on  the  just  past  7th  of  September 
(1859),  after  the  most  bitter  and  tumultuous  political 
campaign  ever  held  in  California,  the  Lecompton,  or  pro- 
slavery,  party  swept  the  State.  Bad  blood  raised  during 
the  canvass  left  many  scores  to  be  settled  after  election, 


98  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1858-1859 

the  most  conspicuous  resulting  in  i  duel  between  David 
S.  Terry,  Chief  Justice  of  the  California  Supreme  Court, 
a  pronounced  pro-slavery  supporter,  and  U.  S.  Senator 
David  C.  Broderick,  the  foremost  anti-slavery  man  west  of 
the  Kocky  mountains.  Eighty  persons  were  present  to 
witness  Broderick  get  a  death-wound  and  Terry  go  un- 
scathed. Broderick  was  carried  to  San  Francisco  and 
half-hourly  bulletins  were  posted  before  a  surging  and 
excited  multitude.  He  was  accorded  a  public  funeral  and 
his  name  became  a  rally-word  in  the  anti-slavery  cause  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.^ 

Henry  George  was  not  unconscious  of  such  events;  on 
the  contrary  he  took  a  burning  and  apprehensive  interest 
in  them.  His  father's  mind,  also,  was  filled  with  appre- 
hension arising  from  similar  events  in  the  East,  for  he 
wrote  (December  3)  : 

"We  have  had  a  high  old  time  with  the  Harper  Ferry 
'rebellion,'  (as  it  is  called)  and  John  Brown.  The  abo- 
litionists are  making  all  the  capital  they  can  out  of  this 
poor  fanatic.  He  is  magnified  and  glorified  beyond 
anything  human,  and  dies  a  martyr,  according  to  their 
belief.  It  is  having  a  great  effect  upon  business,  and 
has  thrown  trade  into  something  of  a  panic.  Our  iron 
men  suffer,  I  am  told,  on  account  of  the  Southern  mer- 
chants everywhere  refusing  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
Northern  men.  What  the  result  will  be  none  can  tell. 
I  have  always  been  of  the  opinion  that  this  Union  could 
never  be  dissolved,  but  if  the  present  feeling  is  kept 
up  and  we  do  not  get  another  Andrew  Jackson  for  our 
next  President,  I  fear  I  shall  be  mistaken  in  my  opinion. 

"Brown  was  hanged  yesterday  at  15  minutes  past  11 
without  any  disturbance.     But  the  end  is  not  yet." 

1  "Broderick  and  Gwin,"  by  James  O'Meara,  pp.  225-254.  Terry  was 
shot  and  killed  by  a  Deputy  U.  S.  Marshal  in  1889,  when  committing 
an  assault  upon  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  Justice  Field,  growing  out  of  a 
case  in  which  Terry  had  been  committed  to  jail  by  Judge  Field  for  con- 
tempt of  court. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
SIX    PRIXTEES    AND    A    NEWSPAPER. 

1860-61.  Age,  31-22. 

THE  year  1860  opened  auspiciously  for  the  young 
printer.  He  was  earning  steady  if  small  wages  at  his 
trade,  and  purposed  not  to  be  diverted,  but  to  keep  at  it 
until  he  came  of  age  in  the  following  September,  when  he 
would  qualify  as  a  journeyman,  and  could  then  demand  a 
man's  full  pay.     To  his  father  he  wrote  (January  4)  : 

"Christmas  and  New  Year's  days  were  passed  by  me  as 
pleasantly  as  could  have  been  expected.  The  weather, 
however,  on  both  days  was  bad,  although  fine  both  before 
and  after.  On  New  Year's  day  I  took  supper  with  two 
of  the  Shubrich's  boys,  and  a  friend  of  mine  who  like- 
wise hails  from  Philadelphia.  We  had  a  very  social, 
pleasant  time,  talking  over  our  old  adventures;  and  in 
the  evening  we  went  to  the  theatre  to  see  Richard  III. 
I  have  been  to  a  play  but  three  or  four  times  since  I 
have  been  in  the  country.  I  haven't  much  taste  that 
way,  and  unless  the  performance  is  very  good,  I  would 
rather  be  reading  or  talking.     .     .     . 

"I  intend  to  stay  where  I  am  imtil  my  next  birthday 
— if  the  paper  lasts  that  long — when  I  will  be  admitted 
to  the  Union,  and  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a 
journeyman  printer ;  and  then  to  work  as  hard  and  save 
as  much  money  as  I  can,  and  in  a  year  or  two  to  come 

99 


100  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEOEGE  [I86O-I86I 

home,  for  a  visit,  at  any  rate.  A  couple  of  hundred 
(at  the  present  rates  of  fare)  would  enable  me  to  come 
home,  stay  a  little  while,  and  then  come  back,  if  it  were 
best;  and  it  does  not  take  long  to  raise  that  if  a  person 
can  get  work." 

It  may  have  been  to  this  performance  of  Eichard  III. 
that  Henry  George  referred  more  than  thirty  years  later 
in  life  (February  4,  1890)  in  a  speech  in  San  Francisco, 
when,  tracing  the  genesis  of  his  thought  on  social  ques- 
tions, he  said: 

"I  remember,  after  coming  down  from  the  Frazer 
River  country,  sitting  one  New  Year's  night  in  the  gal- 
lery of  the  old  American  theatre — among  the  gods — 
when  a  new  drop  curtain  fell,  and  we  all  sprang  to  our 
feet,  for  on  that  curtain  was  painted  what  was  then 
a  dream  of  the  far  future — the  overland  train  coming 
into  San  Francisco;  and  after  we  had  shouted  ourselves 
hoarse,  I  began  to  think  what  good  is  it  going  to  be  to 
men  like  me — to  those  who  have  nothing  but  their 
labour?  I  saw  that  thought  grow  and  grow.  We  were 
all — all  of  us,  rich  and  poor — hoping  for  the  develop- 
ment of  California,  proud  of  her  future  greatness,  look- 
ing forward  to  the  time  when  San  Francisco  would  be 
one  of  the  great  capitals  of  the  world;  looking  forward 
to  the  time  when  this  great  empire  of  the  west  would 
count  her  population  by  millions.  And  underneath  it 
all  came  to  me  what  that  miner  on  the  topsail  schooner 
going  up  to  Frazer  River  had  said:  'As  the  country 
grows,  as  people  come  in,  wages  will  go  down.' " 

Many  times  such  thought  was  to  recur  and,  as  he  said, 
"to  grow  and  grow" ;  but  just  now  a  matter  of  very  differ- 
ent nature  was  to  attract  his  attention.  In  a  letter  to 
his  Sister  Jennie  (February  4)  he  referred  to  the  newly 
discovered  gold  and  silver  mines  in  the  Washoe  moun- 
tains in  Nevada  Territory,  just  over  the  California  line, 


Age,  21-22]  A  NEW  THEATRE  CURTAIN  101 

perhaps  a  hundred  miles  beyond  Placerville  and  not  far 
from  Carson.  The  stories  coming  in  seemed  incredible, 
3'et  this  region  was  in  the  next  ten  years  to  yield  $80,000,- 
000  worth  of  bullion,  mostly  silver;  to  make  celebrated 
the  "Comstock  Lode";  and  to  raise  to  world  renown  the 
names  of  the  "Bonanza  Kings,"  Mackay,  Flood,  O'Brien 
and  Fair.     The  letter  ran: 

"Our  library  is  closed  for  the  present,  as  they  are 
removing  to  a  new  building,  put  up  expressly  for  the 
purpose,  where  there  will  be  ample  room.  However,  I 
have  out  a  bulky  folio — 'Constitutional  History  of 
the  United  States' — so  that  I  am  well  supplied  with 
reading  matter.  Do  you  read  much?  What  books  do 
you  read,  tell  me  ?  How  I  would  like  to  read  with  you. 
We  can  hardly  enjoy  alone,  and  my  list  of  acquaint- 
ances contains  hardly  one  who  reads  more  than  the 
newspapers.     .     .     . 

"We  have  reports  of  several  rich  discoveries  of  the 
precious  metals,  but  I  hardly  think  much  faith  can  be 
placed  in  them.  From  present  indications  there  will 
be  a  great  rush  to  Washoe  in  the  spring.  There  is  sil- 
ver there  in  plent}' — of  that  there  can  be  little  doubt — 
but  still  there  will  be  many  disappointments.  One  thing 
is  certain — you  don't  catch  me  running  off  anywhere 
until  pretty  certain  that  there  is  something  to  be  made. 
I  have  given  up  the  notion  of  mining — at  least  for  the 
present." 

Other  letters  to  and  from  home  throw  light  upon  events. 
From  his  mother   (February  3)  : 

"I  really  think  you  are  not  doing  anything  more  there 
than  you  would  do  at  home,  at  least  it  amounts  to  the 
same  thing  after  expenses  are  deducted.  I  hope  when 
you  are  of  age  you  will  see  it  so,  and  conclude  that  for- 
tunes can  be  made  at  home  as  well  as  abroad.  We  all 
say,  as  with  one  voice,  when  we  get  you  home  we  will 
keep  you.     No  more  roving." 


102  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1860-1861 

From  his  father  (April  16)  : 

"Mr.  Brown  has  a  letter  of  introduction  to  you.  He 
spent  last  evening  with  us.  I  found  him  to  be  a  great 
egotist,  but  he  is  an  Englishman,  and  that  accounts  for 
it.     Treat  him  politely." 

From  Henry  George  to  his  Sister  Jennie  (April  18)  : 

"Washoe  is  walled  up  by  snow  at  present,  preventing 
both  shipping  of  the  ore  and  prospecting.  In  another 
month  when  it  begins  to  thaw  up  in  the  mountains  we 
will  have  some  definite  news  from  that  locality.     .     .     . 

"I  am  still  on  the  'Home  Journal.'  On  the  2d  of 
September  next  I  will  be  twenty-one  years  old,  and  then, 
if  nothing  happens,  I  will  have  a  pretty  good  thing 
(comparatively)  and  be  able  to  make  better  pay.  It 
is  only  four  months  off,  and  they  will  fly  pretty  quickly. 
.  .  .  I  don't  expect  to  work  at  printing  very  long 
after  I  am  of  age.  I  will  then  have  a  chance  to  look 
around  and  get  into  something  that  will  pay  better. 
If  Washoe  only  equals  the  expectations  entertained  of  it 
by  sober,  sensible  men,  times  will  be  brisk  here  this  sum- 
mer, and  everyone  will  have  a  chance  for  'a  gold  ring 
or  a  broken  leg.' 

"Duncan  the  proprietor  of  the  'Home  Journal,' 
bought  an  interest  in  a  silver  lead  a  short  time  since 
for  a  paltry  sum  which  he  could  sell  to-day  for  $15,000, 
and  which,  if  it  holds  out  as  rich  as  the  assay  shows, 
will  be  an  independent  fortune. 

"I  don't  read  much  now  except  the  newspapers  and 
you  are  getting  far  ahead  of  me  in  that  line.  It  takes 
pretty  much  all  my  spare  time  to  keep  posted  on  the 
current  topics  of  the  day.  What  a  time  we  live  in,  when 
great  events  follow  one  another  so  quickly  that  we  have 
not  space  for  wonder.  We  are  driving  at  a  killing  pace 
somewhere — Emerson  says  to  heaven,  and  Carlyle  says 
to  the  other  place;  but  however  much  they  differ,  go  we 
surely  do. 


A-ge,  21-22]  JOINS  A  METHODIST   CHURCH  103 

"I  am  invited  out  to-morrow  evening  to  join  a  read- 
ing circle,  and  if  it  don't  rain  will  make  my  debut  in 
polite  society  on  the  Coast.  Would  you  like  to  see  me 
make  my  bow,  or  hear  me  break  down  when  I  come  to 
some  hard  word?  But  I  will  do  no  such  thing.  I  am 
not  as  bashful  as  I  used  to  be.     .     .     . 

"You  'do'  some  pretty  heavy  reading  for  a  young  girl. 
I  wouldn't  be  so  afraid  of  novels.  A  good  one  is  al- 
ways instructive,  and  your  taste  is  sulficiently  culti- 
vated to  allow  you  to  like  no  other.  I  never  read  them, 
but  then  it  is  solely  because  I  have  not  time  and  am 
obliged  to  take  my  mental  food  in  as  condensed  a  form 
as  possible. 

"I  have  changed  my  quarters  again,  and  am  now 
rooming  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town.  I  have  a 
long  walk  to  breakfast,  but  it  gives  me  a  good  appetite. 

"I  am  sorry  anything  was  wrong  about  X 's  mar- 
riage. However,  the  more  I  see  of  men  and  things,  and 
the  more  I  examine  the  workings  of  my  own  heart,  the 
less  inclined  am  I  to  judge  anybody  else." 

It  was  at  this  period,  that,  urged  on  by  his  mother's 
strong  counsel,  Henry  George  pushed  out  to  make  social 
acquaintances.  He  won  the  friendship  of  two  young  men 
named  Coddington  and  Hoppel,  and  through  them  became 
acquainted  with  some  young  ladies.  Both  of  these  young 
men  were  ardent  Methodists — Hoppel  an  enthusiast,  al- 
most a  fanatic,  and  he  urged  George  to  attend  his  church. 
The  young  printer  had  for  several  years  inwardly  shrunk 
from  a  literal  acceptance  of  the  scriptures,  such  as  he  had 
been  taught  at  old  St.  Paul's  and  in  the  family  circle. 
Roving  had  bred,  or  at  any  rate  quickened  a  revolt,  so 
that,  though  he  said  little  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  others, 
and  especially  of  the  dear  ones  at  home,  he  had  come  to 
reject  almost  completely  the  forms  of  religion,  and  with 
the  forms  had  cast  out  belief  in  a  life  hereafter.  He  in- 
clined towards   materialism.     But   the  burning  enthusi- 


104  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEOEGE  [I86O-I86] 

asm  of  Hoppel,  even  if  it  expressed  in  the  main  only 
personal  magnetism,  was  contagions  to  a  sensitive,  sympa- 
thetic nature;  and  George  began  to  have  new  thoughts 
about  religion.  Drawn  by  this,  and  the  desire  to  make 
acquaintances,  he  accepted  Hoppel's  offer,  and  went  with 
him  to  the  Methodist  place  of  worship,  where  an  upright, 
earnest,  broad-minded  man,  Eev.  S.  D.  Simonds,  preached. 
Then  the  young  printer  wrote  home  that  he  had  joined  a 
church.  Understanding  this  to  mean  more  than  he  in- 
tended to  convey,  the  quiet  circle  at  Philadelphia  received 
the  news  with  a  delight  that  was  only  little  lessened  when 
they  afterwards  learned  that  it  was  the  Methodist  and 
not  the  Episcopal  Church  to  which  he  had  attached  him- 
self.    His  mother  wrote  to  him  (July  2)  : 

"With  what  thrilling  joy  did  we  read  your  last  letter. 
Good  news !  Good  news !  Indeed,  so  unexpected,  so 
intensely  joyful  that  copious  tears  streamed  from  my 
eyes;  but  they  were  tears  of  joy  and  gratitude. 

"Oh,  how  much  better  the  Lord  has  been  to  us  than 
we  have  deserved.  How  weak  our  faith,  that  God's  rich 
blessings  and  overflowing  goodness  and  sure  promise 
should  take  us  by  surprise.  I  now  desire  to  say,  'Bless 
the  Lord,  0  my  soul  and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless 
His  holy  name.  For  Thou  hast  delivered  the  soul  of 
my  child  from  death,  and  his  feet  from  falling.  I  will 
offer  to  Thee  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  and  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

"Your  father  will  tell  you,  too,  the  heartfelt  joy  with 
which  he  received  the  news.  Not  all  the  wealth  of  Cali- 
fornia would  have  caused  a  tithe  of  it.  We  feel  now 
that  our  boy  is  safe;  his  feet  are  upon  the  rock.  Let 
the  waters  lash  and  surge,  the  trials  and  troubles  of 
life  come,  he  is  safe  as  long  as  he  clings  to  the  Cross 
of  Christ  in  hum])le,  trusting  faith.  You  know  our 
beautiful  hymn,  'Rock  of  Ages.'  Turn  to  it  if  you  have 
forgotten  it.  How  soothing  and  comforting  its  lan- 
guage!' With  God  for  your  guide,  my  dear  child,  you 
will  be  safe  and  happy  everywhere. 


Age,  21-22]  COMES  OF  AGE  105 

"  'He  that  dwelleth  in  the  secret  places  of  the  Most 
High  shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty.  I 
will  say  to  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge,  and  my  fortress; 
my  God,  in  Him  will  I  trust.' " 

On  September  2,  1860,  Henry  George  came  of  age.  He 
immediately  joined  the  Eureka  Typographical  Union,  and 
leaving  his  old  boy's  position,  obtained  work  as  substitute 
type-setter  on  the  daily  papers  at  Journeyman's  wages. 
This  irregular  work  lasted  but  a  short  time.  He  soon 
returned  to  the  "Home  Journal"  as  foreman  at  thirty 
dollars  a  week,  and  alloM^ed  the  use  of  his  name  as  pub- 
lisher. But  shortly  afterwards  he  wrote  home  that,  the 
paper  being  weak,  he  did  not  know  how  long  the  posi- 
tion might  last. 

Up  to  this  time  frequent  reference  was  made  to  a 
desire  to  visit  home,  but  on  the  13th  of  October,  while 
he  was  yet  foreman  on  the  "Home  Journal,"  Henry  George 
for  the  first  time  met,  through  the  offices  of  his  friend, 
George  Wilbur,  a  girl  who  was  to  affect  the  whole  course 
of  his  career — Miss  Annie  Corsina  Fox — the  occasion 
being  the  quiet  celebration  of  her  seventeenth  birthday. 

Miss  Fox  was  an  orphan  who  had  just  returned  from 
a  convent  school  at  Los  Angeles,  California, which  was  then 
a  pretty  Spanish  town.  She  was  of  Catholic  faith,  and  of 
mingled  English  and  Irish  blood.  Her  father,  John  Fox, 
an  officer  in  the  British  army,  was  of  English  parentage 
and  Protestant  faith.  He  was  thirty-six  years  old  when 
he  married,  in  Australia,  Elizabeth  A.  McCloskey,  a  strict 
Catholic  and  scarcely  out  of  her  sixteenth  year.  Miss 
McCloskey  was  one  of  the  four  children,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters,  of  Henry  McCloskey,  who  was  born  in  Lim- 
erick, Ireland.  His  wife,  Mary  Ann  Wall,  born  in  Ennis, 
County  Clare,  came  of  an  educated  family,  having  three 
brothers  graduated  from  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  two  of 
whom  had  become  clergymen  in  the  English  Established 


106  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I86O-I86I 

Church.  She  herself  was  a  woman  of  refined  and  intel- 
lectual mind,  and  strong,  commanding  nature.  Henry 
McCloskey  inherited  an  established  business  and  was  him- 
self a  successful  man.  He  had  the  roving  spirit  and 
took  his  family  to  Australia  and  thence  to  California, 
stopping  for  a  period  in  the  Hawaiian,  or  as  they  were 
then  more  commonly  called,  Sandwich  Islands.  In  Syd- 
ney and  in  Honolulu  the  family  lived  in  ample  means, 
Henry  McCloskey  carrying  on  an  important  iron-monger- 
ing  business,  and  deriving  large  profits  from  government 
contracts  which  were  invested  in  real  estate.  He  settled 
his  family  in  California  in  1851,  and  two  years  later  re- 
turned to  build  a  railroad  in  South  Australia,  where  he 
contracted  a  fever  and  died.  He  was  then  fifty-four  years 
old  and  on  his  way  to  a  big  fortune. 

But  before  the  family  left  Australia  Major  Fox  had 
come  to  a  disagreement  with  his  wife's  mother.  She  had 
urged  the  marriage,  and  when  asked  subsequently  how  it 
was  that  though  staunch  Catholic  and  intense  Irish  pa- 
triot, she  had  consented  to  her  daughter's  marrying  a 
man  who  was  a  Protestant  and  wore  a  red  coat,  the  reply 
was  that  she  had  been  "a  mother  first  and  a  Catholic 
afterwards,"  and  had  given  her  sweet,  gentle  daughter  to 
a  soldier  and  gentleman  who  could  protect  her  in  the  new, 
rough  country  that  Australia  then  was.  Discord  between 
the  gentleman  and  his  wife's  mother  at  length  ran  so  high 
that  he  requested  his  wife  to  choose  between  them.  Eliza- 
beth Fox,  feeling  a  stronger  sense  of  duty  towards  her 
mother  than  towards  her  husband,  chose  to  stay  with  the 
former.  The  Major  then  took  his  last  farewell  and  they 
never  met  again.  The  young  wife  realising  her  attach- 
ment for  him  after  he  had  irrevocably  gone,  fell  to  griev- 
ing, which  brought  on  consumption,  of  which  she  died  in 
San  Francisco  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine. 


Aimie  C.  Fox  (Mrs.  George)  at  seveuteeu. 
From  daguerreotjipe  taken  in  San  Francisco,  l!?60. 


Age,  21-22]  FAMILY  OF   ANNIE   FOX  107 

Teresa  and  Annie  were  the  two  daughters  of  this  mar- 
riage. Teresa  had  early  shown  a  serious  bent  of  mind, 
and  at  the  age  of  eleven,  while  reading  at  her  dying  moth- 
er's bedside,  had  formed  the  desire  to  become  a  religious. 
Hope  of  some  day  meeting  and  comforting  her  father 
confirmed  her  in  this  desire,  so  that  at  seventeen  she  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Daughters  of  St.  Vin- 
cent de  Paul,  better  known  as  Sisters  of  Charity,  retaining 
her  name  and  being  subsequently  known  as  Sister  Teresa 
Fox.  Many  times  in  after  years  the  sisters  tried  to  get 
some  word  of  their  father,  but  in  vain.  He  had  left  the 
army  in  Australia,  and  all  trace  of  him  was  lost.  Sister 
Teresa  died  of  influenza  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  on  January 
6,  1899,  after  a  service  in  the  order  of  forty  years  to  the 
day. 

On  leaving  school,  Annie  Fox  made  her  home  with  her 
grandmother,  who  was  now  broken  in  health,  and  her  aunt, 
Mrs.  Flintoff,  of  San  Francisco.  The  keen  eyes  of  the 
grandmother  apparently  saw  the  trend  of  affairs  between 
Annie  and  Mr.  George,  and  though  she  was  the  kind  of 
woman  who  could  recognise  and  admire  the  quality  of 
mind  the  young  man  exhibited,  she  regarded  him  as  physi- 
cally weak  and  endeavoured  to  divert  the  girl's  attention, 
saying:  "Annie,  that  Mr.  George  is  a  nice  young  man, 
but  I  fear  he  is  delicate  and  will  die  of  consumption." 
But  the  girl  kept  her  own  counsel.  She  was  at  that  time 
engaged  to  a  gifted  and  handsome  young  man,  who  had 
promise  of  a  competency;  but,  under  the  ardent  wooing 
of  Henry  George,  a  change  of  feeling  came  over  her. 

Meanwhile  the  calendar  of  outside  events  was  being  rap- 
idly filled.  The  remarkable  campaign  of  1860  ended  in 
the  victory  of  the  new  Republican  party.  Henry  George, 
now  of  age,  cast  his  first  vote  for  Abraham  Ijincoln.  A 
few  weeks  later,  December  20,  the  State  of  South  Carolina 


108  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1860-1861 

formally  seceded  from  the  Union.     E.  S.  H.  George  about 
the  same  time  (December  19)  wrote  to  his  son: 

"Things  look  dark  and  gloomy;  men  seem  dismayed 
at  the  prospect  before  them;  they  confess  that  they 
cannot  see  through  the  gloom.  .  .  .  Can  it  be  that 
these  United  States,  formed  for  the  refuge  of  the  down- 
trodden and  oppressed  of  the  earth,  shall  be  destroyed, 
and  that  that  glorious  flag  which  is  their  protection 
throughout  the  world  shall  be  trodden  under  foot?  I 
can't  think  so ;  no,  never !" 


The  minds  of  most  men  were  charged  with  apprehen- 
sion as  the  year  1861  was  ushered  in.  The  States  of 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Florida  and  Louisiana  fol- 
lowed South  Carolina's  example  and  passed  ordinances  of 
secession.  On  March  -l  the  passive  Buchanan  went  out 
of  office  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  President 
of  the  United  States. 

At  this  time  Henry  George  was  adrift  again.  Duncan 
had  sold  the  "Home  Journal"  and  George  turned  to  "sub- 
bing" on  the  daily  papers.  For  a  time  he  considered  a 
mining  project  of  which  he  speaks  in  a  letter  to  his  Sister 
Caroline  a  year  later  (July  5,  1862)  : 

"A  large  amount  of  silver  is  coining  out  of  Nevada 
near  Virginia  City  and  the  amount  of  goods  going  up 
there  is  astonishing.  One  of  the  companies  lately  de- 
clared a  dividend  of  $1,400  per  share.  Their  claim, 
however,  is  situated  on  the  famous  Ophir  lead,  probably 
the  richest  in  the  world.  A  company  in  which  Charlie 
Coddington  held  some  stock  struck  the  same  lead  a  cou- 
ple of  weeks  ago,  raising  the  value  of  shares  to  a  price 
which  will  give  him  quite  a  nice  little  start,  and  which 
will  make  his  partner  rich,  if  he  has  not  sold  out.  Hop- 
pel  and  I  and  Charlie  were  going  to  buy  twenty  feet 


Age,  21-22]       SAN  FRANCISCO  "EVENING  JOURNAL"  109 

together,  when  I  went  into  the  'Evening  Journal,' 
which  knocked  it  in  the  head — I  choosing,  as  I  thought, 
a  certainty  for  an  uncertainty.  At  present  prices  that 
is  worth  $10,000  ($500  a  foot)  and  if  it  proves  as  rich 
as  Ophir,  will  be  worth  much  more." 

The  "Evening  Journal"  with  which  Henry  George  now 
became  connected,  grew  out  of  a  campaign  newspaper 
called  the  "Constitution,"  which  had  been  run  in  sup- 
port of  the  Union  party  presidential  condidates  in  the 
1860  campaign — Bell  and  Everett.  Five  printers — James 
J.  Knowlton,  Abel  Gee,  son  of  the  Major  Gee  who  was 
to  keep  the  Andersonville  prison  during  the  war;  John 
G.  Smith,  afterwards  an  Episcopal  clergyman  in  Missouri ; 
Anson  C.  Benham,  and  Freeman  A.  Camp — entered  upon 
a  partnership  to  revive  the  paper  under  the  name  of  the 
^'Evening  Journal."  They  all  were  poor,  but  they  agreed 
in  addition  to  gathering  most  of  the  news  themselves  to 
put  in  what  at  that  time  in  California  constituted  the 
chief  item  of  expense  in  newspaper  making — their  print- 
er's services — each  man  to  give  his  entire  time  and  labour. 

For  telegraphic  news,  up  to  the  time  the  "Journal"  was 
started,  did  not  occupy  much  space  in  West  Coast  papers. 
There  was  no  wire  connection  with  the  East,  and  tele- 
grams had  to  travel  a  long  part  of  the  distance  on  the 
"Overland  Stage."  But  now  a  quicker  means  of  trans- 
mission was  established  in  what  was  known  as  the  "Pony 
Express."  Two  relays  a  week  of  fast  pony  riders  ran 
over  the  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  prairie  and  desert  sepa- 
rating St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  Carson  City,  Nevada, 
to  connect  the  Eastern  and  Western  telegraph  systems. 
But  this  was  very  expensive,  and  besides  its  infrequency 
or  intermittent  nature,  almost  nine  days  were  required 
for  so-called  telegraphic  transmission  from  New  York  or 
Washington  to  San  Francisco.^    Under  such  circumstances 


110  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [186O-18CI 

Pacific  Coast  newspapers  did  not  carry  much  telegraphic 
matter,  the  columns  being  almost  entirely  filled  with  local 
news  and  comment^  and  when  intelligence  of  secession 
and  hostilities  began  to  come  in  from  the  East  the  general 
feeling  was  that  these  were  only  temporary  things — mere 
ebullitions,  or  "flashes  in  the  pan !"  And  its  promoters 
believed  that  if  the  "Journal"  could  live  the  short  time 
until  peace  and  quiet  should  be  restored  it  could  then  fall 
back  on  the  local  news  and  be  on  equal  terms  with  its 
contemporaries. 

Kegarding  the  new  daily  as  a  good  venture,  Henry  George 
bought  an  equal  share  with  the  others  for  something  over 
a  hundred  dollars — money  he  had  saved  while  foreman 

1  The  chief  business  of  the  Pony  Express  was  to  carry  mail  between  St. 
Joseph,  Missouri,  and  Sacramento,  California;  St.  Joseph  being  the  western 
limit  of  the  Eastern  railroads,  and  Sacramento  being  connected  with  San 
Francisco  by  river  steamers.  The  distance  to  be  ridden  was  1900  miles, 
going  by  way  of  South  Pass,  Salt  Lake,  Humboldt  River  and  Carson  Val- 
ley. There  were  190  stations  at  intervals  of  about  25  miles  ;  and  200  sta- 
tion keepers,  80  riders  and  nearly  500  western  native  ponies.  Postage 
was  $5  for  each  half  ounce.  Carson  City  was  on  the  way,  and  there  tele- 
grams were  picked  up  or  dropped.  Hittell's  "History  of  California," 
Vol.  IV,  pp.  266-268. 

2  For  a  time  the  editorial  writer  on  the  "  Evening  Journal "  was  John  R. 
Ridge,  a  strikingly  handsome  man,  whose  mother  was  a  cultured  Connec- 
ticut woman,  and  whose  father,  educated  in  Connecticut,  was  a  full-blooded 
Cherokee  Indian,  a  member  of  one  of  what  were  known  as  the  Civilised 
Tribes.  In  later  years  Henry  George  wrote  of  him  in  '  *  Progress  and 
Poverty,"  Bk.  X,  Chap,  ii  ("Memorial  Edition,"  pages  490-491).  "  I  once 
knew  a  man  in  whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  Indian  chiefs.  He  used  to 
tell  me  traditions  learned  from  his  grandfather  which  illustrated  what  is 
difficult  for  a  white  man  to  comprehend  —  the  Indian  habit  of  thought, 
the  intense  but  patient  blood  thirst  of  the  trail,  and  the  fortitude  of  the 
stake.  From  the  way  in  which  he  dwelt  on  these,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
under  certain  circumstances,  highly  educated,  civilised  man  that  he  was, 
he  would  have  shown  traits  that  would  have  been  looked  on  as  due  to  his 
Indian  blood  ;  but  wliich  in  reality  would  have  been  sufficiently  explained 
by  the  broodings  of  his  imagination  upon  the  deeds  of  his  ancestors. " 


Age,  21-22]  SUMTER  FIRED  UPON  111 

on  Duncan's  paper — and  agreed  with  the  others  to  give 
his  whole  time  to  the  enterprise.  He  wrote  to  his  Sister 
Jennie  (April  10,  1861)  : 

"For  the  past  week  I  have  been  working  very  hard. 
I  have  bought  an  interest  in  a  little  paper,  copies  of 
which  I  send  you  by  this  mail.  We  are  pushing  in — 
bound  to  make  it  a  paying  concern  or  perish  in  the 
attempt  (that  is,  the  paper,  not  your  respected  brother). 
I  think  we  have  a  good  prospect  and  in  a  little  while  will 
have  a  good  property,  which  will  be  an  independence  for 
a  life-time.  Then,  and  not  till  then  you  may  begin  to 
fret  about  a  sister-in-law ! 

"Since  I  came  in  the  paper  has  been  enlarged  and 
considerably  improved,  and  probably  the  next  copies  I 
send  you  will  present  a  much  better  appearance,  as  we 
are  yet  hardly  in  the  working  trim. 

"I  am  very  tired  to-night.  This  working  on  a  daily 
paper  the  hours  that  we  do  is  harder  than  digging  sand 
or  wielding  a  sledge." 

On  April  12  the  astounding  news  spread  over  the  North 
that  the  South  had  fired  upon  the  United  States  flag  at 
Fort  Sumter.  Owing  to  the  slow  means  of  communica- 
tion, this  information  did  not  reach  California  until  some 
days  later ;  but  when  it  did  come  it  produced  an  extraordi- 
nary sensation. 

Henry  George  had  invited  Miss  Fox  out  to  walk  that 
evening,  and  he  was  so  absorbed  that  she  asked  the  cause; 
and  when  he  said,  "The  terrible  news,"  and  told  what  had 
happened,  she  exclaimed:  "Is  that  all?  Why,  I  thoughf 
your  dear  old  father  was  dead."  He  turned  in  astonish- 
ment :  "All !"  he  said  in  some  excitement ;  "why,  what 
could  be  a  greater  calamity  to  this  country?" 

It  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  young  girl  born  in 
another  country,  and  just  fresh  from  a  convent  school, 
should,  in  San  Francisco,  far  removed  from  the  seat  of 


112  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I86O-I86I 

the  struggle,  not  at  once  grasp  the  significance  of  events; 
but  the  family  in  Philadelphia  thorouglily  understood, 
Mrs.  George  writing  to  her  son  (May  20)  a  few  days  after 
the  President  had  called  out  seventy-five  thousand  volun- 
teers for  a  three  months'  service : 

"We  are  now,  as  it  were,  holding  our  breath;  waiting 
for  the  news  of  the  first  battle.  It  is  thought  by  all 
that  it  will  take  place  in  a  few  days  at  Harper's  Ferry. 
0  this  horrible,  calamitous  and  most  sorrowful  of  all 
wars ;  when  and  what  will  be  the  end  ?  I  firmly  believe 
the  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  will 
be  our  defence.  Though  we  have  sinned  against  Him, 
He  will  not  give  us  to  anarchy  and  confusion,  but  will 
right  our  wrongs  and  make  us  again  a  happy,  united 
people.     0  pray  for  this,  my  dear  boy." 

His  Sister  Jennie  (by  same  mail)  wrote: 

"Mrs.  Browning  moves  two  nations  with  one  song. 
Have  you  seen  her  last  poem,  written  at  Turin,  I  think, 
termed  'Mother  and  Poet'  ?  It  is  magnificent.  It  com- 
mences : 

"  'Dead !  One  of  them  shot  by  the  sea  in  the  east. 
And  one  of  them  shot  in  the  west  by  the  sea. 
Dead !  both  my  boys !     When  you  sit  at  the  feast. 
And  are  wanting  a  great  song  for  Italy  free, 
Let  none  look  at  me.' 

"It  is  all  we  women  can  do — give  up  our  husbands 
and  brothers  cheerfully.  A  great  man}'^  we  know  are 
going,  some  your  old  friends." 

Later  (June  10)  his  father  wrote: 

"You  cannot  feel  it  as  we  do.  All  around  is  war- 
like, and  young  men  are  crowding  into  the  ranks  of  the 
forces  being  raised.  Nothing  now  but  the  sound  of  the 
drum  and  the  march  of  troops  South.     .     .     , 

"But,  my  dear  boy,  this  is  what  I  think  I  predicted 


Age,  21-22]  SOUND  OF  THE  DRUM  113 

to  you  long  ago.  We  are  now  approaching  times  and 
scenes  such  as  never  have  been  seen  in  these  United 
States;  and  we  old  men  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  best  that  it  should  now  be  declared  whether 
we  are  a  National  Government  or  not,  that  our  chil- 
dren may  know  the  truth,  and  what  they  are  to  depend 
upon. 

"The  new  Collector  has  taken  his  seat  and  is  cutting 
right  and  left.  I  feel  that  my  time  at  the  Custom 
House  is  short,  and  what  to  do  I  know  not.  Com- 
merce is  suspended,  and  I  do  not  know  to-night  but 
that  I  shall  be  a  pauper  to-morrow.  .  .  .  If  I  am 
discharged  I  know  not  what  will  become  of  us.  And 
yet  all  I  know  are  in  the  same  boat — all  on  a  par,  like 
a  ship  at  sea  without  rudder  or  compass.  But  blessed 
be  God.  We  can  and  do  look  up  to  Him  for  guidance 
and  deliverance.  I  feel  satisfied  that  He  will  not  leave 
or  forsake  us  in  this  our  time  of  need." 

The  dismissal  from  the  Custom  House  which  R.  S.  H. 
George  feared  came  soon  after  this.  At  sixty-four  years 
of  age,  and  when  business  was  demoralised,  he  was  forced 
to  seek  means  of  livelihood.  His  son  Henry,  in  his 
prosperous  periods  had  been  accustomed  to  send  money 
home,  and  even  during  the  hard  struggling  months  on  the 
"Evening  Journal"  had  sent  a  few  remittances.  When 
he  heard  of  his  father's  threatened  plight  he  at  once  offered 
to  sell  out  his  interest  in  the  paper  for  whatever  it  would 
bring  and  send  the  money  on.  But  the  old  gentleman 
would  not  listen  to  this.     He  replied  (August  3)  : 

"Your  kind  letter  was  to  me  worth  more  than  silver 
and  gold.  It  showed  me  that  my  dear  son  far  away 
from  us  was  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  to  help  his 
parents  in  distress.  And  so  with  all  my  dear  children. 
Surely  my  grey  hairs  will  not  go  down  in  sorrow  to 
the  grave  on  account  of  the  want  of  love  and  affection 
on  the  part  of  my  dear  children." 


114  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [I86O-I86I 

He  told  his  son  that  he  had  hopes  of  success  in  a  ship- 
brokerage  business  which  he  and  a  Custom  House  asso- 
ciate, who  also  had  been  displaced,  intended  to  enter  upon. 

A  never  failing  complaint  in  the  communications  from 
home  at  this  period  was  that  there  were  so  few  and  such 
meagre  letters  from  California.  There  was  ground  enough 
for  these  complaints,  for  all  connected  with  the  "Evening 
Journal"  had  to  work  long  and  hard.  In  a  letter  to  his 
Sister  Caroline  (August  19)  Henry  George  shows  this: 

"I  am  still  on  the  paper — working  hard  to  make  it 
go,  and  as  yet  without  any  decided  success.  We  are 
making  now  about  $6  apiece  per  week — rather  small 
wages  you  will  justly  think  for  California.  But  then 
they  are  slowly  but  surely  getting  larger,  and  I  think 
the  prospect  ahead  is  worth  some  industry  and  self- 
denial." 

The  little  band  of  poverty-stricken  printers  pressed  reso- 
lutely on,  with  the  earnest  hopes  of  Henry  George's  folks 
at  home.  Indeed,  the  latter  took  so  much  interest  in  the 
enterprise  that  when  her  brother  had  written  that  he  would 
sell  out  at  any  price  to  send  his  father  some  money,  his 
Sister  Jennie  had  replied  (August  29)  :  "I  hope  you  won't 
sell  your  share  in  the  paper.  It  seems  hard  to  think  of 
your  commencing  all  over  again.  We  all  cried  when  we 
got  your  letter;  it  seemed  so  hard  on  you." 

The  bond  between  this  brother  and  sister,  always  close 
by  reason  of  congenial  tastes,  seemed  now  to  grow  more 
tender.  By  his  encouragement,  she  wrote  several  long 
news  letters  from  Philadelphia  for  his  paper,  and  in  her 
personal  letters  she  constantly  referred,  with  something 
like  wistfulness,  to  the  days  that  seemed  long  gone  when 
they  were  happy  children  together: 

"Uncle  Thomas  took  us  all  on  an  excursion  Tuesday. 
.     .     .     He  told  us  that  a  number  of  years  ago  he  went 


Age,  21-22]  WORK  UPON  WORK  115 

on  a  similar  excursion  to  Pennsgrove  and  took  you  with 
him.  He  was  very  much  amused  with  you.  While  you 
were  eating  your  breakfast  they  gave  you  some  very 
strong  coffee.  (I  suppose  you  were  not  used  to  it.) 
All  of  a  sudden  you  laid  down  your  knife  and  fork 
with  a  very  grave  face,  and  they  asked  you  what  was  the 
matter.  You  said  quite  soberly :  'Why,  I  do  believe  the 
coffee  has  flew  to  my  head.' " 

A  long  letter  to  his  Sister  Jennie  at  this  time  (Septem- 
ber 15)  shows  with  some  clearness  the  state  of  the  young 
printer's  mind: 

"I  have  been  very  dilatory  about  writing  and  more 
especially  about  answering  the  long  letters  received  from 
you  about  two  weeks  ago,  but  now  I  will  try  to  make 
amends  for  it,  if  I  can.  In  the  first  place,  I  have  been 
working  quite  hard,  from  morning  to  night,  without 
any  intermission,  and  it  is  quite  a  strain.  In  fact,  to 
sit  down  and  write  after  the  day  is  over,  is  but  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  use  of  the  same  faculties,  which  in  my 
trade  have  been  so  heavily  drawn  upon  during  the  day, 
and  though  I  might  at  one  time  send  you  a  few  lines, 
yet  I  wanted  to  write  you  a  good  long  letter,  such  a 
one  as  I  used  to  write,  and  such  as  you  sent  me.  Again, 
I  have  felt  unsettled  and  worried  about  business,  hoping 
that  each  day  would  make  some  change  that  I  might 
tell  you  of;  in  fact,  until  a  few  days  past,  hardly 
knowing  whether  our  paper  would  get  through  the  next 
day,  as  I  feared  something  would  occur  to  bring  it  to 
a  close,  and  in  truth,  feeling  something  like  the  sailor 
in  a  calm  wishing  for  even — 

"  'Storm  or  hurricane, 
Anything,  to  put  a  close 
To  this  most  dread,  monotonous  repose!' 

"But  the  days  have  followed  each  other,  and  pretty 
much  like  each  other,  too,  and  nothing  has  happened — 
no  prospect  of  war  with  European  powers,  no  uprising 
of  Secessionists,  no  appearance  of  the  Sheriff's  officers, 


116  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I86O-I86I 

nor  even  of  that  individual  with  more  money  than  brains, 
and  an  exceedingly  strong  desire  to  go  into  the  news- 
paper business  in  a  small  way,  whom  I  have  been  hop- 
ing would  come  along  and  buy  me  out.  So  we  go. 
What  a  constant  reaching  this  life  is,  a  constant  stretch- 
ing forth  and  longing  after  something.  But  you  know 
what  Emerson  in  the  'Sphinx'  makes  his  'CEdipus'  say: 

"  'The  fiend  that  man  harries 
Is  love  of  the  Best; 
Yawns  the  pit  of  the  Dragon 
Lit  by  the  rays  from  the  Blest.' 

And  so  it  is — and  so  it  will  be  until  we  reach  the  per- 
fect, and  that  you  and  I  and  every  son  of  Adam  and 
every  daughter  of  Eve,  each  for  himself,  knows  we  are 
very  far  from. 

"  'For  the  longing  I  feel  is  a  part 

Of  the  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  heart — 
The  frenzy  and  fire  of  the  brain — 
That  yearns  for  the  fruitage  forbidden, 
The  golden  pomegranates  of  Eden, 
To  ease  off  its  hunger  and  pain.' 

"Truly  it  seems  that  we  have  fallen  upon  evil  days. 
A  little  while  ago  all  was  fair  and  bright,  and  now  the 
storm  howls  around  us  with  a  strength  and  fury  that 
almost  unnerves  one.  Our  country  is  being  torn  to 
pieces,  and  ourselves,  our  homes,  filled  with  distress. 
As  to  the  ultimate  end,  I  have  no  doubt.  If  civil  war 
should  pass  over  the  whole  country,  leaving  nothing  but 
devastation  behind  it,  I  think  my  faith  in  the  ultimate 
good  would  remain  unchanged;  but  it  is  hard  to  feel  so 
of  our  individual  cases.  On  great  events  and  move- 
ments we  can  philosophise,  but  when  it  comes  down  to 
ourselves,  to  our  homes,  to  those  we  love,  then  we  can 
only  feel ;  our  philosophy  goes  to  the  dogs.     .     . 

"In  the  meantime  we  eagerly  wait  the  arrival  of  each 
pony.  Twice  a  week  it  arrives,  and  from  the  outer  tele- 
graph station  in  Nevada  Territory  the  news  is  flashed 


Age,  21-22]  YEARS  FOR  GOLDEN  AGE  117 

to  us  in  San  Francisco.  The  last  two  or  three  times 
the  news  has  seemed  to  me  rather  more  encouraging, 
not  so  much  by  reason  of  anything  that  has  been  done, 
as  by  the  evident  determination  of  the  loyal  North  to 
see  the  thing  through. 

"I  do  not  get  much  time  to  read  now.  In  fact,  I 
have  read  very  little  for  eighteen  months — hardly  more 
than  the  newspapers;  certainly  not  enough  to  keep  me 
posted  on  the  current  literature  of  the  day.  How  I 
long  for  the  Golden  Age — for  the  promised  Millenium, 
when  each  one  will  be  free  to  follow  his  best  and  noblest 
impulses,  unfettered  by  the  restrictions  and  necessities 
which  our  present  state  of  society  imposes  upon  him — 
when  the  poorest  and  the  meanest  will  have  a  chance  to 
use  all  his  God-given  faculties,  and  not  be  forced  to 
drudge  away  the  best  part  of  his  time  in  order  to  sup- 
ply wants  but  little  above  those  of  the  animal. 

".  .  .  .  I  had  a  dream  last  night — such  a  pleas- 
ant, vivid  dream,  that  I  must  tell  you  of  it.  I  thought 
1  was  scooping  treasure  out  of  the  earth  by  handfuls, 
almost  delirious  with  the  thoughts  of  what  I  would 
now  be  able  to  do,  and  how  happy  we  would  all  be — 
and  so  clear  and  distinct  that  I  involuntarily  examined 
my  pockets  when  I  got  up  in  the  morning,  but  alas! 
with  the  usual  result.  Is  it  an  indication  of  future 
luck?  or  do  dreams  always  go  by  contraries,  and  in- 
stead of  finding,  am  I  to  lose?  But  the  latter  supposi- 
tion will  not  worry  me,  for  'he  who  lies  on  the  ground 
cannot  fall  far.'  No,  I  suppose  I  dreamed  as  starving 
men  are  said  to  of  splendid  feasts,  or  thirsty  desert  wan- 
derers of  shady  brooks  and  spray-flinging  fountains. 
'Lust  for  Gold!'  Is  it  any  wonder  that  men  lust  for 
gold,  and  are  willing  to  give  almost  anything  for  it, 
when  it  covers  everything — the  purest  and  holiest  de- 
sires of  their  hearts,  the  exercise  of  their  noblest  powers  ! 
What  a  pity  we  can't  be  contented !  Is  it  ?  Who 
knows?  Sometimes  I  feel  sick  of  the  fierce  struggle 
of  our  high  civilised  life,  and  think  I  would  like  to 
get  away  from  cities  and  business,  with  their  Jostlings 
and  strainings  and  cares  altogether,  and  find  some  place 
on  one  of  the  hillsides,  which  look  so  dim  and  blue  in 


118  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1860-I86l 

the  distance  where  I  could  gather  those  I  love,  and  live 
content  with  what  Nature  and  our  own  resources  would 
furnish;  but,  alas,  money,  money,  is  wanted  even  for 
that.  It  is  our  fate — we  must  struggle,  and  so  here's 
for  the  strife !     .     .     . 

"The  days  and  weeks  and  months  never  flew  so  fast 
with  me  as  they  do  now.  Time  we  measure  by  sensa- 
tions, and  working  so  steadily,  there  is  not  room  for 
many.  I  do  not  like  my  trade  when  forced  to  work 
at  it  so  steadily — there  is  not  action  enough  in  it,  hardly 
a  chance  for  the  movements  of  the  mind.  But  it  will 
not  always  be  so.  'It  is  a  long  lane  that  knows  no  turn- 
ing,' they  say,  and  I  hope  the  turn  will  come  soon,  for 
I  really  feel  tired. 

"It  is  harder  for  me  to  write  to  you  than  to  anyone 
else.  When  I  have  business  to  write  about  I  can  sit 
down  and  spin  it  right  off,  but  when  it  comes  to  writ- 
ing home,  I  scrawl  a  few  words  and  find  myself  lost  in 
reverie,  Avhen  I  sit  and  think,  and  bite  my  pen,  while 
Memory  is  busy  till  the  hours  fly  away  unnoticed. 

"I  am  glad  Bill  Horner  and  Jim  Stanley  have  gone 
to  the  wars.  I  should  like  to  see  them.  If  I  were  home, 
and  situated  as  they  are,  I  would  go,  too.  Not  that  I 
like  the  idea  of  fighting  my  countrymen — not  that  I 
think  it  is  the  best  or  pleasantest  avocation,  or  that  the 
fun  of  soldiering  is  anything  to  speak  of;  but  in  this 
life  or  death  struggle  I  should  like  to  have  a  hand.  If 
they  die,  they  will  die  in  a  good  cause ;  and  if  they 
live,  they  will  always  feel  prouder  and  better  when  this 
time  is  mentioned  than  if  they  had  remained  safely  at 
home  while  others  faced  the  danger  and  did  the  work. 
I  have  felt  a  great  deal  like  enlisting,  even  here,  and 
probably  would  have  done  so,  had  I  not  felt  that  my 
duty  to  you  all  required  me  to  remain,  though  I  did 
not,  and  do  not,  think  our  volunteers  are  really  needed 
or  will  do  any  fighting  that  will  amount  to  anything; 
but  I  should  like  to  place  my  willingness  on  record,  and 
show  that  one  of  our  family  was  willing  to  serve  his 
country.  We  cannot  tell.  It  may  be  my  duty  yet, 
though  I  sincerely  hope  not. 

"I  never  hear  from  the  Currys  now,  except  through 


Age,  21-22]  CLOTHES  IN  RAGS  119 

the  medium  of  your  letters,  and  at  present  there  is  no 
probability  of  my  going  up  there.     .     .     . 

"We  have  been  having  our  usual  fine  summer,  but  the 
rainy  season  will  soon  set  in  and  then  we  will  make  up 
for  it.  Eain  is  a  very  nice  thing  once  in  a  while,  but 
when  it  gets  into  the  habit  of  coming  down  for  a  month 
at  a  time,  you  almost  cease  to  appreciate  it,  and  woidd 
be  willing  to  have  it  change  to  snow.  It  is  very  little 
colder,  however,  in  winter  than  in  summer,  and  I  wear 
precisely  the  same  clothing  the  year  round.     .     .     . 

"I  have  been  some  time  writing  this  much,  but  I  think 
we  will  be  able  to  make  arrangements  that  will  place 
us  in  a  better  position.  As  soon  as  they  are  completed 
I  will  write,  probably  in  a  day  or  two." 

The  "arrangements"  that  the  young  printer  spoke  of 
which  should  place  those  on  the  "Evening  Journal"  in  a 
better  position  could  not  have  been  comjjleted,  or  being 
completed,  could  not  have  been  of  more  than  temporary 
duration,  for  in  a  short  time  all  connected  with  the  paper 
were  hard-driven  again.  "I  worked,"  said  he  afterwards,^ 
"until  my  clothes  were  in  rags  and  the  toes  of  my  shoes 
were  out.  I  slept  in  the  office  and  did  the  best  I  could 
to  economise,  but  finally  I  ran  in  debt  thirty  dollars  for 
my  board  bill." 

Miss  Fox  called  at  the  "Journal"  office  with  some  friends 
one  day  at  this  period,  after  the  paper  had  gone  to  press. 
Mr.  George  was  the  only  person  there.  He  was  standing 
at  a  case  in  his  shirt  sleeves  distributing  type.  On  seeing 
the  visitors,  he  hurried  to  wash  his  hands,  brush  and  put 
on  his  coat  and  make  himself  presentable.  He  showed 
Miss  Fox  about  the  little  office  and  presently  pointed  to 
a  kind  of  folding  cot,  with  mattress,  grey  blankets  and  a 
pillow,  that  were  under  one  of  the  imposing-tables.  When 
he  told  her  that  that  was  his  bed,  the  young  girl  exclaimed, 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


120  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I86O-I86I 

"Oh,  I  hope  your  mother  does  not  know  of  this."    "Why," 
he  replied,  "this  is  nothing  after  a  life  at  sea." 

What  brought  the  crisis  on  the  "Journal"  was  the  com- 
pletion of  the  trans-continental  telegraph  in  October. 
With  the  wire  joining  them  to  New  York,  Washington 
and  all  the  East,  the  papers  that  were  in  the  press  asso- 
ciation monopoly  had  so  much  advantage  that  Henry 
George  concluded  that  for  him  to  stay  longer  and  fight 
at  such  odds  would  be  worse  than  foolish.  He  expressed 
his  desire  to  withdraw.  Some  friction  had  grown  up 
between  the  other  owners  of  the  paper  and  so  it  was  con- 
cluded towards  the  middle  of  Xovember,  1861,  to  dis- 
solve partnership.  Of  this  Mr.  Knowlton,  one  of  the  part- 
ners, has  since  said : 

"It  was  agreed  on  Mr.  Gee's  proposal  that  each  of 
the  six  partners  should  make  a  bid  for  the  'Evening 
Journal,'  and  to  write  his  bid,  without  showing  it  to 
the  others,  on  a  slip  of  paper,  which  was  to  be  folded 
and  dropped  into  a  hat.  Then  all  the  slips  were  to  be 
taken  out  and  opened.  The  makers  of  the  three  high- 
est bids  were  to  stay  in,  and  of  the  three  lowest  bids  to 
go  out.  George,  Camp  and  Smith  were  lowest,  their 
bids  together  making,  I  believe,  $800,  or  averaging  some- 
thing over  $266  apiece." 

Even  this  sum — small,  indeed,  for  the  months  of  strain 
and  privation — would  have  enabled  Henry  George  to 
square  his  debts  and  have  a  little  remaining  with  which 
to  make  a  fresh  start,  but  the  instaying  partners  could 
not  at  once  pay.  In  June  he  had  written  home  that  he 
had  been  "given  a  one-third  interest  in  a  gold  lead  in 
Butte  County,"  but  this  too,  had  failed;  so  that  when  he 
went  out  of  the  "Journal"  to  look  elsewhere  for  work  his 
prospects  were  desperate.  At  this  critical  point  in  his 
affairs  he  was  called  upon  to  face  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant crises  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COURTSHIP    AND    RUNAWAY    MARRIAGE. 

1861.  Age,  22. 

MISS  FOX'S  family  must  have  marked  a  change  in 
the  appearance  of  young  Mr.  George,  who  at  first  had 
dressed  well,  but  whose  clothes  now,  though  neat,  showed 
wear.  The  grandmother  had  died  after  displaying  every 
sign  of  tender  care  and  affection  for  her  daughter  Eliza- 
beth's children,  orphaned  as  she  felt  by  her  unwise,  though 
most  loving  interference.  Matthew  McCloskey,  Miss  Fox's 
uncle,  had  now  become  virtually  the  young  girl's  guar- 
dian, and  careful  man  that  he  was,  he  wrote  privately  to 
Philadelphia  to  learn  something  of  the  young  suitor's  an- 
tecedents, which  he  found  to  be  satisfactory. 

Matthew  McCloskey  shared  his  mother's  force  of  char- 
acter. He  was  one  of  those  strong,  commanding  men  seen 
at  greatest  advantage  in  pioneer  conditions.  In  "Happy 
Valley,"  the  section  of  the  city  in  which  he  lived  and 
owned  considerable  real  estate,  his  word  was  his  bond, 
and  his  conclusions  in  ticklish  land-title  disputes,  which 
his  neighbours  brought  to  him  to  settle  rather  than  go  to 
law,  had  the  respect  accorded  to  decisions  of  court.  And 
while  a  just  man,  he  had  the  generosity  of  a  courageous 
man,  one  night  d\iring  the  campaign  of  '60  going  home 
in  a  passion  because  he  had  been  unable  to  prevent  a  mob 

121 


122  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i86l 

of  Douglass  Democrats  stopping  a  Breckinridge  Democrat 
from  making  a  public  speech;  for  though  a  strong  Doug- 
lass Democrat  himself,  he  wanted  all  men  to  have  a  fair 
chance  to  be  heard.  Thus  no  man  in  his  neighbourhood 
was  better  known  or  more  highly  respected.  His  house, 
a  frame  building,  like  many  others  at  that  time,  made  in 
Australia  and  brought  to  California  in  sections,  was  when 
erected  one  of  the  best  in  that  part  of  the  city. 

Matthew  McCloskey  took  no  exception  to  the  character 
or  possible  abilities  of  young  George,  but  his  own  nature 
was  too  masterful  long  to  brook  the  same  trait  in  the  young 
man  who  came  courting  his  niece.  For  the  time  he  said 
nothing;  while  all  unconscious,  or  careless,  of  smiles  or 
frowns  from  such  a  quarter,  the  young  printer  was  show- 
ing in  his  wooing  the  strength  of  his  nature  and  bent  of 
his  mind.  He  brought  Miss  Fox  books,  mostly  of  verse, 
and  they  had  reading  tasks  together.  One  work  used  in 
this  way  was  Charles  A.  Dana's  "Household  Book  of  Po- 
etry," a  large  volume  just  published  containing  an  admir- 
able collection  from  the  writings  of  the  great  poets  of  the 
language.     The  lovers  read,  memorised  and  discussed. 

One  day  Henry  George  said  he  had  just  heard  his  rival's 
love  story,  and  that  he  thought  the  other  man  ought  to 
have  the  right  to  press  his  suit,  and  that  he  himself  ought 
to  withdraw.  The  lady  intimated  that  the  other  gentle- 
man had  few  friends  at  court,  whereas  Mr.  George  was 
well  represented.  The  young  printer  needed  no  further 
word  of  encouragement,  and  at  all  hours,  early  in  the 
morning,  at  midday  or  late  at  night — for  one  hour  was 
as  pleasant  to  him  as  another — he  came  dropping  in  at 
the  Flintoff's  on  Twelfth  Street,  near  Folsom,  until  unex- 
pectedly the  stonn  broke  and  Matthew  McCloskey,  who 
came  out  that  night  to  his  brother-in-law's,  told  Mr. 
George  that  until  he  could  show  more  evidence  of  pros- 


Age,  22]  QUARREL  ABOUT  MISS  FOX  123 

perity — for  he  was  now  out  of  the  "Evening  Journal," 
and  indeed,  of  all  regular  employment — he  should  make 
his  visits  less  frequent.  The  young  fellow  replied  with 
spirit,  and  the  two  quick,  hot  tempered  men  would  have 
come  to  blows  had  not  Miss  Fox,  who  had  been  the  terri- 
fied spectator  of  the  quarrel,  rushed  between  them.  Her 
uncle,  forgetting  that  his  brother-in-law  and  not  he  was 
master  there,  ordered  the  young  man  from  the  house  and 
forbade  him  ever  again  to  enter  it. 

Much  of  that  night  Miss  Fox  spent  praying  and  next 
morning,  December  3,  1861 — a  stormy,  rainy  morning — 
when  Henry  George  came  out,  she  said  that  she  would  no 
longer  remain  under  the  roof  of  either  of  her  uncles,  and 
had  resolved  to  go  to  Los  Angeles  and  accept  a  position 
as  teacher  in  the  school  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

The  young  man  said:  "If  you  go  I'll  not  see  you,"  to 
which  the  girl  replied  that  since  she  could  not  stay  with 
her  relatives  in  San  Francisco,  she  saw  nothing  else  to  do. 
The  young  man  drew  from  his  pocket  a  single  coin. 
"Annie,"  said  he  solemnly,  "that  is  all  the  money  I  have 
in  the  world.     Will  you  marry  me?" 

She  gravely  answered :  "If  you  are  willing  to  undertake 
the  responsibilities  of  marriage,  I  will  marry  you." 

He  told  her  when  he  came  again  later  in  the  day  that 
at  nightfall  he  would  send  a  carriage  for  her  to  the  door 
inquiring  for  "Mrs.  Brown"  and  that  she  should  be  ready 
at  once  to  leave.  All  day  long  she  sat  in  the  parlour  of 
Joseph  Flintoff's  house  waiting  for  night  and  the  car- 
riage, while  Henry  George  was  off  telling  some  of  his 
friends  of  the  matter,  getting  credit  for  two  weeks'  board 
for  two  persons,  borrowing  a  little  money  and  some  better- 
appearing  clothes  than  his  own,  and  hiring  a  carriage. 
There  was  some  diflficulty  about  the  carriage,  for  when  the 
driver  grasped  the  fact  that  he  was  about  to  take  part  in 


124  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i86l 

a  runaway  marriage,  and  that  he  was  to  get  into  the 
very  thick  of  it  by  inquiring  at  the  door  for  "Mrs.  Brown," 
he  declined,  saying  that  he  already  had  "a  bullet  in  one 
leg"  for  participating  in  another  just  such  affair.  But 
he  agreed  to  hold  his  conveyance  in  readiness  at  a  discreet 
distance  from  the  residence.  Isaac  Trump,  one  of  George's 
Shubrick  friends,  with  coat  collar  turned  up  and  soft  felt 
hat  drawn  down,  went  to  Mr.  Flintoff's  residence  and 
asked  for  "Mrs.  Brown."  Miss  Fox  was  ready,  and  fol- 
lowed him  out,  handing  him  a  heavy  cloth-covered  pack- 
age, which  from  its  form  and  feeling  he  afterwards  said 
he  thought  must  be  boxes  of  jewels,  but  which  to  his  aston- 
ishment turned  out  to  be  the  "Household  Book  of  Poetry," 
and  all  the  other  volumes  that  Henry  George  had  given 
the  young  lady,  she  preferring  to  take  these  to  any  other 
of  her  personal  possessions.  Presently  Mr.  George  joined 
them  and  they  proceeded  to  the  carriage  where  the  lady 
that  Isaac  Trump  was  engaged  to  marry  was  awaiting 
them.  Rev.  S.  D.  Simonds,  the  Methodist  clergyman 
whom  Henry  George  had  been  going  to  hear  the  year  be- 
fore, was  to  perform  the  ceremony.  But  he  was  out  of 
town  at  that  hour  and  would  not  be  back  until  nine  that 
night.  The  party,  therefore,  went  to  a  restaurant  to  sup- 
per. After  the  repast  they  walked  to  Mr.  Simond's  little 
Methodist  church  called  the  Bethel.  The  night  was 
bright  with  moonlight,  but  wet  under  foot  from  the  day's 
storm  and  when  they  came  to  a  pool,  Henry  George  lifted 
his  bride-elect  over  it — a  habit  which  the  young  man  con- 
tinued, at  night  at  least,  for  many  years. 

Charles  Coddington  and  Mrs.  Simonds,  the  wife  of  the 
clergyman,  were  waiting  at  the  church.  James  George 
could  not  get  there,  but  his  newly  wedded  wife,  Sophia 
George,  came  and  brought  his  hearty  good  wishes. 

Miss  Fox,  a  Catholic  in  good  standing,  would  have  pre- 


Age,  22]  MARRIAGE  IN  METHODIST  CHURCH  125 

ferred  her  own  church  for  the  place  of  the  marriage,  but 
fearing  the  delay  that  that  seemed  to  present,  was  willing 
to  have  Mr.  George's  Methodist  friend.  Rev.  Mr.  Simonds, 
perform  the  ceremony,  though  soon  afterwards  in  Sacra- 
mento she  had  Rev.  Nathaniel  Gallagher  of  St.  Rose's 
Church  give  the  Catholic  sanction.  Broad-minded  man 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Simonds  was,  he  voluntarily  read 
the  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  which  the  bride- 
groom had  been  bred,  and  which,  as  he  said,  "more  nearly 
approached  the  Catholic"  than  his  own  short  Methodist 
service.  And  in  this  way  Henry  George  and  Annie  iox 
— the  one  twenty-two^  the  other  eighteen — became  hus- 
band and  wife,  the  ring  being  the  one  used  at  the  wedding 
of  Miss  Fox's  grandmother. 

When  the  ceremony  was  over  Mr.  George  wrote  out  and 
sent  advertisements  to  all  the  newspapers;  and  the  clerg}'- 
man  took  down  Charles  Coddington's  name  as  one  of  the 
witnesses.  He  then  turned  to  Mr.  Trump,  who  was  to  be 
second  witness,  but  whom  he  did  not  know.  "I.  Trump," 
the  witness  responded.  "I  perceive  that  you  do,"  said  the 
clergyman,  "but  what  is  your  name?"  and  it  was  several 
minutes  before  the  reverend  gentleman  could  be  made  to 
believe  that  the  witness  was  not  joking,  and  that  "I"  stood 
for  "Isaac."^ 

There  was  no  honeymoon  trip  for  this  bridal  pair;  in- 

1  Six  months  later,  (July  5,  1862)  writing  from  Sacramento  to  his  Sister 
Caroline,  Henry  George  said:  "Both  friends  who  were  at  our  marriage 
are  now  in  the  same  fix  —  Ike  Trump  and  Charlie  Coddington  (of  whom 
I  have  spoken  in  connection  with  Hoppel).  Charlie  ran  away  with  his 
girl,  or  rather  Hoppel  did  it  for  him,  and  they  had  a  queer  old  time.  When 
I  was  in  San  Francisco  I  met  Hoppel  with  a  big  revolver  buckled  around 
him  and  he  told  me  the  whole  story.  Ike's  girl  went  up  to  Marysville 
last  week  to  be  married  to  him,  he  writing  to  me  to  hurry  her  along  ;  for 
if  she  lost  a  day  the  new  licence  law  would  go  into  effect  and  he  would 
have  to  pay  $3  for  the  privilege." 


126  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [igei 

deed,  the  young  groom  arose  at  five  o'clock  next  morning 
to  go  out  and  look  for  work.  This  he  found  as  a  "sub" 
type-setter,  and  worked  all  day ;  and  in  the  evening  getting 
another  chance,  he  worked  that  night  until  the  small  hours 
next  morning.  By  irregular  "subbing"  of  this  kind  he  was 
able  to  earn  enough  to  pay  their  board  bills.  After  a  few 
days,  learning  of  an  opening  in  Sacramento,  the  Capital 
of  the  State,  he  went  up  and  got  "subbing"  work  on  the 
"Union,"  a  morning  daily,  and  earned  good  wages.  He 
at  once  sent  for  his  wife  and  for  a  time  at  least  felt  some 
sense  of  security,  though  adversity  was  soon  again  upon 
him. 

All  this  while  the  George  family  was  without  knowledge 
of  what  had  happened,  nor  did  any  but  his  Sister  Jennie 
even  so  much  as  know  of  the  existence  of  Miss  Fox.  Be- 
fore the  crisis  came  in  the  love  affair,  and  before  he  had 
drawn  out  of  the  "Evening  Journal,"  he  had  written  in 
confidence  to  his  sister  to  tell  her  of  his  affection,  with- 
holding the  intelligence  from  the  others  because  he  would 
not  have  his  father  and  mother  think  that  he  would  so 
much  as  contemplate  the  taking  on  of  new  responsibili- 
ties at  a  time  when  they  were  down  in  their  fortunes,  and 
when  he  could  do  so  little  to  help  them — a  time,  indeed, 
when,  under  the  circumstances,  he  could  only  with  diffi- 
culty support  himself.  His  sister's  reply,  without  date, 
bears  evidence  of  great  haste,  and  runs : 

"I  felt  a  sudden  choking,  a  sudden  loneliness  and 
jealousy,  when  I  first  read  your  letter.  I  have  got  over 
that  now;  and  first  of  all,  no  matter  what  else  I  say, 
my  advice  to  you  is :  If  you  really  love  Annie,  you  marry 
her  as  soon  as  you  are  able  to  support  her.  I  have  no 
doubt  you  are  sure  of  loving  her  .  .  .  though  you 
cannot  be  too  sure. 

"I  am  sorry  she  is  a  Catholic,  very  sorry.     Be  care- 


Age,  22] 


THE  NEWS  AT  HOME  127 


fill  about  that.  You  say  3'ou  often  talk  on  religious 
subjects;  let  them  not  be  doctrinal  points.  The  ground 
is  dangerous  to  you,  no  matter  how  well  balanced  your 
mind  may  be.  I  know  that  our  family  will  object  to 
that,  Ma  especially;  but  still  I  do  not  think  she  will 
withhold  her  consent  on  that  account.  The  great  objec- 
tion is  that  you  should  be  married  away  from  hoine. 
Do  not,  I  beg  of  you.  Come  home  and  bring  her  with 
you.     I  will  love  her;  so  will  they  all,  I  know. 

"I  love  her  already — at  least  I  feel  as  if  I  had  found 
a  new  friend  somewhere  by  the  name  of  Annie.  I  call 
her  Annie  to  myself;  her  name  is  familiar  to  me  now. 

.  .  Marry  her  if  you  love  her,  for  love  is  too  pre- 
cious a  thing  to  be  thrown  away.  'For  beauty  is  easy 
enough  to  win.  but  one  isn't  loved  every  day.'     .     .     . 

"In  the  meantime  do  not  forget  me;  do  not  cease  to 
love  me  as  much  as  ever,  will  you?  There  can  be  two 
places  in  your  heart — one  for  Annie  and  one  for  me." 

When  he  wrote  in  November  that  he  was  out  of  the 
"Evening  Journal"  his  mother  answered  (December  11)  : 

"I  see,  my  son,  that  you  get  the  blues  sometimes  as 
well  as  other  folks,  and  I  don't  wonder.  I  think  you 
have  had  a  hard  time  of  it,  but  don't,  I  beseech  you, 
ever  allow  that  to  prevent  you  from  writing  home.  Eer 
member,  a  whole  household  is  made  blue  in  that  case, 
though  they  say  they  are  not,  to  keep  up  the  mother's 
spirits.  Keep  up  your  spirits,  my  dear  boy.  All  will 
yet  be  well.  I  feel  persuaded  you  will  yet  come  out 
right.  You  know  the  darkest  hour  is  just  before  day. 
I  have  always  boasted  of  your  happy,  cheerful,  encour- 
aging tone.  Never  till  late  have  I  detected  a  shadow  of 
gloom.     Put  your  trust  in  God,  my  dear  child." 

Then,  owing  to  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  country, 
mails  accumulated,  and  there  was  a  three  months'  silence 
from  California.  When  the  mails  resumed,  a  bunch  of 
letters  arrived  together,  among  them  one  from  the  son  tell- 


128  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i86l 

ing  of  his  marriage  and  one  from  his  wife,  for  both  of 
them  wrote  just  after  the  wedding.  Perhaps  the  folks 
were  too  happy  on  hearing  from  their  son  once  more  in 
those  troublous  times  and  too  much  astonished  at  the 
news  that  the  letters  brought,  to  think  of  deprecating  his 
marriage.  At  any  rate,  the  whole  family  united  in  a 
warm  and  earnest  welcome  to  the  new  daughter  and  sister, 
and  nearly  all  of  them  wrote  messages  of  love  by  the  next 
mail.     His  Sister  Kate  wrote  (March  4)  : 

"My  new  relationship  never  struck  me  so  forcibly  as 
it  did  last  night  at  family  prayers,  when  father  prayed 
for  his  beloved  son  and  daughter.  Before  we  used  only 
to  pray  for  our  dear  absent  one;  now  it  is  for  our  dear 
absent  ones." 

The  young  couple  had  on  their  side  waited  with  some- 
thing like  trepidation  through  the  long  months  for  word 
of  recognition  from  home,  and  though  neither  spoke  of 
it,  both  had  almost  settled  down  into  despair  when  the 
bundle  of  letters  came  to  hand,  telling  of  the  warm  taking 
into  the  heart,  and  then  the  time  slipped  merrily  along. 
But  his  mother  and  his  Sister  Jennie  pleaded  with  them 
in  every  letter  to  come  home.  To  her  brother,  Jennie 
wrote  with  a  tender  love  (April  20)  : 

"There  are  a  great  many  more  things  here  to  remind 
us  of  you  than  there  are  out  there  to  remind  you  of 
us.  .  .  .  Here  ever}i;hing  is  associated  with  you. 
We  live  the  same  as  we  did  when  you  went  away;  in 
the  same  house,  doing  the  same  things  over  and  over 
again,  only  each  time  we  do  them  less  light-heartedly, 
feeling  that  we  are  gradually  growing  older,  that  things 
will  not  always  be  so. 

"We  had  pretty  nice  times  when  we  were  children, 
didn't  we?     Yesterday   I  was  forcibly  reminded  that 


Age,  22]  HIS  SISTER  JENNIE  129 

every  one  of  us  is  growing  older.  You  know  it  was 
Easter  Saturday.  Don't  you  remember  Ma  always  dyed 
us  two  or  three  eggs  apiece?  Well,  yesterday  she  did 
not  dye  one.  She  never  thought  of  it  and  none  of  the 
children  asked  for  it. 

"What  nice  times  we  used  to  have  Christmas,  too. 
How  sleepless  we  used  to  be  all  night.  You  used  to 
be  up  about  4  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

"Hen,  in  the  Spring  we  used  to  have  such  a  time 
planting  seed  in  our  garden.  What  a  handsome  gar- 
den !  Time  has  not  improved  it.  It  is  the  same  little 
*snub'  it  used  to  be.  We  thought  it  was  nice  though, 
didn't  we  ?  Don't  you  remember  Tom  and  Val  used 
to  plant  things  and  pull  them  up  about  a  week  after  to 
see  if  they  were  growing? 

"Tell  Annie  about  Tom  sitting  in  the  air.  I  tell  him 
that  that  one  act  is  enough  to  immortalise  and  hand 
his  name  down  to  posterity."^ 

The  bond  between  brother  and  sister  was  never  closer 
than  now,  as  shown  by  his  letter  a  couple  of  months  later : 

Sacramento,  June  5,  '62. 
"My  dear  Jennie:  We  are  having  Summer  at  last; 
and  hot  enough  it  certainly  is.  I  feel  it  more,  perhaps, 
than  I  would  otherwise  from  the  fact  that  since  leav- 
ing Panama  I  have  experienced  no  really  warm  weather, 
the  winds  which  draw  in  through  the  Golden  Gate, 
making  San  Francisco  almost  as  cool  in  summer  as  in 
winter.  But  we  are  now  living  in  one  of  the  pleasant- 
est  parts  of  the  town — a  square  from  the  State  Capitol 
— and  surrounded  by  trees  of  all  kinds  and  the  largest 
growth,  and  roses  in  greater  profusion  than  I  ever  saw 

1  Tom  George,  the  brother  next  in  age  to  Henry,  had  been  told  that  sit- 
ting in  the  air  was  possible.  So  following  directions,  he  procured  one  of 
the  household  wasli  tubs,  filled  it  with  water,  placed  a  board  across  it, 
stood  on  the  board  and  then  told  a  younger  brother  and  sister  to  draw  the 
board  away  when  he  leaped  up  into  the  air.  He  leaped  and  they  pulled 
—  and  then,  of  course,  down  he  came  and  took  an  unpremeditated  bath. 


130  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1861 

before.     Aunt  Mary  would  be  delighted  with  this  coun- 
try, barring  the  floods. 

"A  short  distance  from  the  house  is  the  slough — 
formed  by  the  back  water  of  the  American  River,  which 
unites  with  the  Sacramento  at  this  point — a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  on  which  we  have  a  boat,  and  over  which 
we  frequently  sail.  In  a  word,  we  are  as  pleasantly 
situated  as  we  could  desire,  but  Annie  will  tell  you  all 
about  how  we  are  fixed.  She  will  write  to-night,  being 
at  the  present  moment  'amusing'  herself  by  nursing 
a  baby,  the  property  of  one  of  the  ladies  in  the  house, 
and  of  which  I  must  in  justice  say  that  I  have  not  yet 
heard  it  cry.  She  is  a  regular  woman,  and  has  all  the 
notions  and  fancies  that  seem  so  strange  to  a  man. 

"But  while  we  are  so  pleasantly  situated,  'Old  Ad- 
versity' walks  as  close  behind  as  ever.  The  Legislature 
has  adjourned,  as  I  told  you  before,  and  though  the 
weather  and  roads  have  much  improved,  the  Overland 
Mail  stage  has  not  yet  commenced  running.  We  were 
under  the  impression  that  it  had  started  from  the  other 
side  and  the  first  budget  of  news  would  be  here  in  a 
few  days,  but  on  Sunday  a  telegraphic  despatch  was 
received  from  New  York  dated  May  26  stating  that 
operations  would  probably  be  resumed  in  about  fifteen 
days.  This  is  disheartening,  for  to  its  regular  arrivals 
we  are  looking  for  the  revival  of  our  business,  which  just 
now  is  unprecedentedly  dull.  The  proprietors  of  the 
'Union'  state  their  determination  to  commence  to  run 
two  double  sheets  a  week  as  soon  as  the  Overland  ^Mail 
resumes,  which  will  give  me  all  the  work  I  care  to  do. 
But  we  have  been  expecting  and  looking  for  it  so  long 
that  it  seems  that  it  never  would  come.  I  am  not  one 
of  those  who  love  work  for  its  own  sake,  but  feeling 
what  it  brings,  I  love  it  and  am  happiest  when  hard  at 
it.  It  is  no  wonder  that  wealth  is  sought  bv  all  means, 
good  or  bad,  for  it  expresses  almost  everything.  With 
it,  it  seems  to  me,  I  should  be  supremely  happy  (per- 
haps that  is  the  reason  I  have  it  not).  It  is  but  the 
want  of  a  few  dollars  that  keeps  us  separate,  that  forces 
us  to  struggle  on  so  painfully,  that  crushes  down  all 
the  noblest  vearnings  of  the  heart  and  mind.     I  do  not 


Age,  22]  LONGING  FOR  WEALTH  131 

complain  that  no  special  miracle  is  worked  in  my  behalf, 
that  by  none  of  those  lucky  windfalls  which  sometimes 
come  to  fools,  I  am  enriched;  but  it  really  seems  that 
strive  as  hard  in  whatever  direction  I  may,  the  current 
still  turns  against  me.  But  I  will  not  believe  that  it 
will  be  so  always.  At  any  rate  I  will  do  the  best  I  can, 
make  the  most  of  my  opportunities,  and  for  the  rest 
trust  to  God. 

"Though  I  have  a  great  deal  of  time  on  my  hands,  I 
do  not  think  it  is  wholly  lost.  I  employ  it  in  the  devel- 
opment of  either  body  or  mind,  in  rowing  or  swimming 
or  in  reading.  ]\Iarriage  has  certainly  benefitted  me 
by  giving  a  more  contented  and  earnest  frame  of 
mind  and  will  help  me  to  do  my  best  in  'whatever  sta- 
tion it  pleases  God  to  call  me.'  This  is  the  only  differ- 
ence I  can  perceive.  Annie  and  I  are  so  well  matched 
in  years  and  temperament  that  there  was  no  violent 
change  in  either.  I  feel  no  older,  and  my  dear  sister, 
I  love  you  as  much  as  ever,  and  I  believe,  long  to  see 
you  more.  But  I  am  afraid  it  will  be  some  time  before 
we  can  get  home,  and  in  the  meantime  we  want  to  try 
and  get  one  of  you  out  here.  The  fare  will  be  reduced 
in  some  way  or  other  before  long,  and  when  I  once  get 
071  the  train,  it  will  not  take  long  to  find  the  means.  I 
wish  you  were  all  here,  I  think  you  would  like  the 
country,  or  that  we  were  all  home,  which  would  be  bet- 
ter still.     However,  we  must  hope  on. 

"Every  day  the  telegraph  is  in  working  order  it  brings 
us  the  news  of  the  success  of  the  armies  of  the  Kepub- 
lic.  I  cannot  help  feeling  regret  that  the  contest  will 
be  over  and  the  victories  won  without  my  having  taken 
the  slightest  part  in  it.  If  I  am  East  after  the  war  is 
ended  I  will  feel  abashed  among  its  heroes.  If  I  had 
been  home  I  would  have  gone  if  I  possibly  could,  but 
here  there  was  no  chance  unless  one  could  pay  his  pas- 
sage to  New  York,  for  those  who  were  raised  here  were 
merely  to  garrison  posts  and  fight  Indians,  though  now 
a  column  is  being  puslied  across  the  deserts  to  Arizona, 
though  it  is  very  doubtful  if  they  will  see  any  fighting. 

"What  has  become  of  Will  Jones  and  Charley  Wal- 


132  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1861 

ton?     You  have  not  told  nie  of  them,  but  I  suppose 
they  are  in  the  army. 

"Times  must  be  improving  now  at  home.  The  worst 
of  the  war  will  soon  be  over  and  then  I  think  there  will 
bo  a  great  revival.  Considering  the  effects  of  the  floods 
and  the  northern  gold  fevers,  everything  is  becoming 
quite  brisk  here. 

"In  future  direct  to  the  'Union'  office  at  Sacramento, 
and  if  I  am  not  here  my  letters  will  be  forwarded  imme- 
diately. I  think,  however,  that  I  will  stay  here  for 
some  time,  and  if  I  get  a  situation  within  a  short  time, 
I  will  be  sure  to  do  so. 

"For  the  present  I  must  say  good-bye.  Give  my  love 
to  all. 

"Your  affectionate  brother, 

"Henry  George." 

"P.  S.  I  have  just  received  a  call  to  go  to  work,  so 
excuse  my  abruptness." 

And  so  the  current  of  affectionate  communion  passed 
between  brother  and  sister,  when  one  afternoon,  return- 
ing from  an  outing  for  his  early  evening  dinner,  the  young 
wife  noticed  that  her  husband  was  depressed  and  preoccu- 
pied, that  he  ate  little,  and  that  when  he  spoke  it  was  as 
with  an  effort  to  be  cheerful.  He  went  off  to  his  printer's 
work  as  usual,  but  when  he  came  home  in  the  early  morn- 
ing she  asked  his  trouble.  He  said  that  letters  from  home 
bore  heavy  news  which  he  had  withheld  as  she  was  to  be 
alone  during  the  long  night  hours.  iS[ow  he  was  ready 
to  tell  her — his  Sister  Jennie  was  dead !  He  handed  her 
a  letter  from  his  mother,  and  unable  longer  to  control 
himself,  broke  into  a  flood  of  passionate  tears.  The  letter, 
which  was  unsigned,  ran: 

Philadelphia,  August  7,  1862. 
"My  dear  Son:  Uncle  Thomas  has  imparted  to  you 
by  this  mail  the  dreadful,  heart-crushing  news.     God, 
I  hope,  has  given  you  strength  to  bear  it.     After  my 


Age,  22]  DEATH  OF   SISTER   JENNIE  133 

first  gush  of  agon}',  and  I  could  think  at  all,  my  cry 
went  up  for  my  bo}',  Lord,  sustain  him  in  this  great 
trouble.  Oh,  if  he  were  here  to  witness  the  dying  scene 
and  weep  with  us  it  would  not  seem  so  hard.  And  then, 
dear  Annie,  your  image  came  up  with  inexpressible  com- 
fort— a  dear  wife  to  sympathise  with  him,  on  whose 
breast  he  can  pour  out  his  agonising  cry,  tears  to  min- 
gle with  his  tears.     0  I  blessed  God  that  he  had  a  wife. 

"It  is  nearly  two  weeks  since  we  laid  our  darling 
Jennie  in  the  grave,  and  we  miss  her  more  and  feel  more 
desolate  than  we  did  at  first.  0  every  article,  and  every 
spot,  and  everything  in  the  house  reminds  us  of  her. 
0  how  we  mourn  our  precious  child.  .  .  .  My 
heart  woiild  burst  without  tears. 

"I  suppose  Uncle  Thomas  gave  you  particulars  of  her 
death  and  the  impression  with  her  from  the  first  that 
she  would  die.  In  her  first  conversation  with  me  (she 
had  been  in  bed  several  days  and  seemed  to  be  easier 
and  more  quiet,  her  sickness  at  first  being  characterised 
by  great  restlessness  and  excessive  debility  by  turns) 
she  said:  'Ma,  I  want  to  see  Uncle  Thomas,  and  Dr. 
Goddard  and  Dr.  Eeed.'^  She  had  just  been  telling  Pop 
before  I  came  in  the  room  the  same  thing,  mourning 
over  her  coldness  and  hardness  of  heart,  and  saying  that 
she  had  not  lived  as  she  ought  and  that  she  was  afraid 
to  die,  that  her  Saviour  would  not  receive  her  and  that 
she  would  not  go  to  heaven.  All  day  when  I  thought 
her  easy  and  quiet  she  had  been  struggling  and  pray- 
ing. '0  Ma,'  said  she,  'how  everything  earthly  sinks 
into  utter  nothingness  at  the  prospect  of  death!'  I 
tried  to  comfort  her  (Pop  could  not  command  his  voice), 
told  her  neither  we  nor  the  doctor  had  a  thought  of 
her  dying,  she  would  get  well;  but  I  said,  'Dear,  Uncle 
Thomas  cannot  help  your  peace  of  mind ;  no  earthly  arm 
can  give  you  peace.'  'I  know  it,'  she  answered  quickly, 
'but  I  would  love  to  have  him  talk  and  pray  with  me.' 
'Jesus  alone,'  I  again  said,  'is  all  you  want.  Simply 
look  to  Him;  cast  yourself  upon  Him,  in  all  your  sin- 
fulness and  weakness,  as  you  did,  my  child,  when  you 

1  Dr,s.  Goddard  and  Reed  were  clergymen. 


134  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [isei 

first  came  to  Him  years  ago.  He  is  the  same  precious 
Saviour.'  I  repeated  the  hymn  'Kock  of  Ages/  slowly 
and  with  emphasis — 

"  'In  my  hand  no  price  I  bring, 
Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling.' 

'Yes,  yes,'  she  whispered.     .     . 

"0  then  the  cruel,  crushing  blow  came.  I  would  not 
listen  to  any  of  them,  not  until  dinner  time  would  I 
believe  my  child  was  going  to  die.  Xo,  no,  no;  not  my 
Jennie.  Others  might  lose  their  children,  but  0  no,  this 
could  not  be.  This  rebellious  spirit  lasted  some  time 
after  she  breathed  her  last,  though  after  the  first  out- 
burst I  was  enabled  to  choke  down  the  agony  and  ap- 
pear calm  until  it  all  was  over.  She  died  peacefully 
;uid  gently,  as  an  infant  just  sleeping  away.     .     .     . 

"Henry,  how  her  mind  developed !  It  was  too  much 
for  her  frail  body.  She  read  too  much — nearly  every 
day  at  the  library,  besides  bringing  home  books. 

"A  piece  of  hair  for  Annie." 

After  his  wife  had  read  the  letter  the  young  man,  spring- 
ing to  his  feet  and  pacing  the  floor,  as  was  his  habit  when 
mentally  roused,  protested  that  he  could  not  bring  him- 
self to  believe  that  his  dear  sister  was  dead;  and  with  the 
manner  of  sudden  conviction,  said  that  there  must  be, 
there  is,  another  life — that  the  soul  is  immortal.  But  his 
words  expressed  his  longing,  rather  than  his  conviction. 
Immortality  he  now  earnestly  wished  to  believe  in.  But 
the  theology  of  his  youth  did  not  persuade  him,  and  it 
was  not  until  many  years  afterwards  when  pursuing  the 
great  inquiry  that  produced  "Progress  and  Poverty"  that 
he  perceived  the  "grand  simplicity  and  unspeakable  har- 
mony of  universal  law,"  that  beneficence  and  intelligence 
govern  social  laws,  instead  of  blind,  clashing  forces;  and 
then  faith  from  reason  came  and  immortality  became  a 
fixed  belief. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SUFFEES  EXTREME   PRIVATION. 
1861-1865.  Age,  22-26. 

THE  city  of  Sacramento,  built  on  the  sloping  east  bank 
of  the  Sacramento  River,  at  the  junction  with  the 
American  River,  is  protected  from  overflows  by  a  levee. 
For  several  weeks  at  the  close  of  1861  heavy  rains  had  fallen 
throughout  the  State,  so  that  the  great  Sacramento  and 
San  Joaquin  river  systems  had  over-flowed  their  natural 
banks,  and  in  January,  when  Mrs.  George  was  sent  for 
by  her  husband  to  come  to  Sacramento,  the  rainfall 
amounted  to  twenty-four  and  one  half  inches,  the  heaviest 
monthly  fall  recorded  in  California.  Under  the  stress  of 
water,  the  levee  broke  and  the  low  part  of  the  city  was 
submerged,  most  of  the  one-story  buildings  being  entirely 
covered.  Outside  the  city  the  entire  country  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  north  and  south,  and  as  far  west  as 
the  Coast  Range  of  mountains  was  a  sheet  of  water,  the 
river  course  being  told  only  by  the  tops  of  trees  that  grew 
along  the  banks.^ 

The  Georges  at  first  lived  in  the  old  City  Hotel  on  K 
Street,  just  around  the  corner  from  the  "Union"  office 
where  the  husband  worked.  One  morning  Mr.  George 
sent  a  hurried  message  to  his  wife  to  get  her  lunch,  that 

iHittell's  "History  of  California,"  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  294-295. 
135 


136  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1861-1865 

he  would  join  her  at  once,  for  the  water  was  coming. 
The  hotel  dining-room  was  on  the  ground  floor,  and  out 
in  the  street  had  accumulated  a  small  pool,  and  so  rapidly 
did  the  water  rise  that  before  the  hasty  rejjast  was  over 
all  in  the  dining-room  were  standing  on  their  chairs  and 
left  the  room  on  a  bridge  or  pathway  of  them. 

But  everybody  was  showing  what  is  said  to  be  an  Ameri- 
can characteristic — good  humour  in  face  of  the  inevitable. 
People  abandoned  first  stories  and  lived  and  did  business 
above.  Printers  in  the  "Union"'  office  came  to  the  City 
Hotel  over  roof  tops.  The  mcml)ers  of  the  legislature 
moved  about  in  boats,  as  did  everyone  else  who  could  get 
them;  and  failing  boats,  used  wash  tubs,  bath  tubs  and 
rafts.  All  things  seemed  to  pass  the  hotel,  and  among 
them  came  a  section  of  sidewalk  bearing  a  man  and  his 
dog,  the  man  on  a  stool,  calmly  contemplating  the  watery 
aspect  of  city  and  country.  Bakers'  ovens  were  early  sub- 
merged, so  that  for  a  time  fruit  cake  in  stock  became  a 
substitute  for  bread.  Spirituous  liquors  were,  also,  for  a 
time  exceedingly  scarce — a  serious  deprivation  in  a  com- 
munity, where,  as  in  every  new  country,  custom  had  made 
drinking  of  some  sort  one  of  the  common  marks  of  cor- 
diality in  daily  social  life.  This  afforded  Henry  George 
special  opportunity  for  amusement.  While  on  the  "Even- 
ing Journal"'  he  had  obtained  from  a  druggist,  who  had 
no  other  way  of  settling  an  advertising  bill,  some  toilet 
articles,  and  among  them  twelve  bottles  of  "New  England 
Bum,"  all  of  which  he  had  given  to  Miss  Fox,  and  which 
were  sent  to  her  with  her  personal  effects  by  her  relatives 
after  her  marriage.  Mr.  George  now  took  the  "New  Eng- 
land Rum"  to  his  thirsty  printer  friends,  and  to  his  in- 
tense amusement,  they  emptied  the  bottles  in  a  twinkle. 
When  Mrs.  George  heard  of  this  she  was  in  consternation. 
"It  was  not  for  the  stomach,  but  for  the  head — a  hair 


Age,22-2G]  FLOOD  AT  SACRAMENTO  137 

tonic,"  she  said.  One  of  the  printers  ventured  to  explain 
that  what  was  good  for  the  hair  must  be  good  for  the 
stomach,  and  that  at  any  rate  the  liquid  had  tasted  well 
and  had  produced  no  ill  effects. 

After  perhaps  four  months'  residence  at  the  City  Hotel, 
the  Georges  went  to  boarding  and  then  to  housekeeping, 
taking  one  house  after  another.  They  were  so  restless 
that  in  answer  to  an  acquaintance's  question  afterwards 
as  to  what  time  of  year  they  cleaned  house,  Mr.  George 
jokingly  said :  "We  didn't  clean  house ;  we  moved,  in- 
stead !"     In  October  of  1862  he  wrote  home  to  his  sisters : 

"I  have  not  written  for  some  time — much  longer 
than  I  should  have  neglected  it;  but  I  have  been  very 
busy  all  this  time — busier  than  I  have  ever  been  before. 
I  have  been  working  steadily  and  literally  working  all 
the  time.  Up  to  a  couple  of  months  ago  I  could  not 
get  enough  to  do,  but  since  then  the  Overland  Mail  has 
been  arriving  with  great  regularity,  and  I  have  not 
missed  a  day,  except  when  I  took  a  run  down  to  San 
Francisco  for  a  couple  of  days  on  business,  trying  to 
get  the  balance  of  the  pittance  for  which  I  sold  my 
share  in  the  'Evening  Journal.'  Had  not  my  neces- 
sities been  so  great  I  would  not  have  worked  as  I  have 
during  that  time,  for  no  one  can  do  so  for  any  time 
and  retain  good  health.  But  I  wanted  so  much  that 
I  could  not  idle  away  a  day  on  which  I  had  a  chance 
to  work.  But  we  are  getting  along  ver}'^  well  and  I 
will  not  do  so  in  future.  I  have  been  making  from 
$36  to  $40  every  week,  and  to  do  that  I  have  had  to  be 
at  work  constantly,  for  the  work  on  the  'Union'  is 
what  the  printers  call  'lean,'  and  every  cent  made  is 
fully  earned.  I  have  not  even  read  the  papers;  barely 
glanced  over  the  outlined  news  each  day,  and  on  the 
one  day  of  the  week  when  I  had  any  time  to  spare  it 
has  been  so  filled  up  with  things  that  should  have  been 
attended  to  during  the  week  and  I  have  been  so  tired 
out  that  I  have  hardly  had  time  to  write." 


138  LIFE  OF  HENRY   GEORGE  [I8ai-1865 

On  November  3  (1862)  the  first  child  was  born,  a  boy, 
who  was  named  after  his  father.  Added  responsibilities 
made  the  young  printer  ready  to  turn  his  hand  to  whatever 
would  bring  him  a  living.  And  it  happened  that  a  young 
newspaper  man  named  Samuel  L.  Clemens,  who,  under 
the  7iom  de  plume  of  "Mark  Twain,"  had  won  a  reputation 
on  the  Coast  as  a  humourist  of  a  dry  and  original  quality, 
came  to  Sacramento  to  lecture.  Another  newspaper  man, 
Denis  E.  McCarthy,  acting  as  manager,  hired  Henry 
George  to  take  tickets  at  the  door. 

Close,  hard  work  had  enabled  Mr.  George  to  pay  up 
pretty  much  all  that  he  owed  in  San  Francisco  at  the 
time  of  his  marriage.  Then  getting  some  money  ahead, 
he  had,  following  the  old  infatuation,  invested  it  in  min- 
ing stocks.  But  these  stocks,  instead  of  yielding  dividends 
or  even  advancing  in  value,  brought  constant  assessments, 
which  meant  privation  or  more  indebtedness,  and  fre- 
quently both.  He  had  in  these  mining  ventures  gone  in 
with  Isaac  Trump,  who  was  deeply  interested  in  what 
was  known  as  the  Gettysburg  and  Swansea  Mining  Com- 
pany, working  a  copper  claim.  The  situation  is  explained 
in  letters  to  and  from  Trump. 

Sacramento,  October  12,  1863. 

"Dear  Ike:  As  you  cannot  come  down  and  I  cannot 
go  up,  I  will  write  you  as  much  as  possible  of  my  views 
and  wishes  about  our  investments.  I  don't  want  to 
bother  you  and  will  be  as  brief  as  possible. 

"It  is  now  eight  months  since  we  determined  to  make 
our  fortunes,  and  I  am  afraid,  in  spite  of  our  sanguine 
hopes,  we  have  failed.  'Hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart 
sick,'  and  that  is  my  case,  if  not  yours.  From  the  hopes 
of  making  a  big  raise,  I  have  come  down  to  think  if  I 
can  get  my  money  back  I  will  be  in  luck.  I  need  it 
badly  and  want  to  get  it  as  soon  as  possible.     .     . 


Age,  22-26]  SOME   MINING   VENTURES  139 

"I  asked  you  the  actual,  cash  value  of  my  stock,  and 
as  you  say  nothing  in  answer,  I  suppose  you  consider 
the  question  already  answered  in  your  previous  letter. 
In  that  you  set  down  Swansea  at  $3  per  foot  and  every- 
thing else,  exclusive  of  Banner  and  Gray  Eagle,  at  $1. 
That  would  make  the  account  about  this: 


100  feet  Swansea    $300.00 

100     "     Pine    Bark 100.00 

371/2     "     Bed  Kock 37.50 

25     "     Yorkville 25.00 


$462.50 

The  others,  I  don't  suppose  you  count  at  anything.  If 
this  money  could  be  got,  however,  I  would  be  very  well 
satisfied,  you  may  be  sure.  I  would  be  willing  to  take 
almost  half  that  amount  for  everything. 

"You  tell  me  to  sell  down  here,  but  that  is  a  sheer 
impossibility.  The  claims  are  not  known  here.  If 
they  were  Sacramento  companies  it  might  be  different. 
As  it  is,  I  could  only  sell  to  one  who  would  take  my  word 
for  their  value,  which  no  one  but  a  very  intimate 
friend  would  do,  and  to  such  I  would  not  sell  in  that 
way.  I  suppose  it  would  be  a  like  impossibility  with 
you  to  get  in  cash  anything  like  the  figures  you  have 
named,  but  I  suppose  something  could  be  got. 

"Outside  of  the  Swansea  I  should  like  to  sell  every- 
thing for  whatever  it  would  bring.  I  can't  pay  any 
more  assessments  without  getting  something  back — with 
my  liabilities  it  is  impossible.  Twenty-five  or  fifty  feet 
of  the  Swansea  I  would  like  to  hold.  The  remainder  I 
want  to  sell. 

"The  year  is  fast  closing  and  prices  are  not  likely  to 
improve  before  another  season.  I  am  deeply  in  debt 
and  I  want  to  make  another  effort  by  Spring  at  farthest 
and  think  the  sooner  we  realize  what  we  can  the  better 
it  will  be  for  us. 

"I  write  you  as  well  as  I  can  what  I  think  and  want, 


140  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [iSGi-i&os 

and  leave  you  to  act.     If  you  don't  want  to  sell,  but  can 
sell  for  me,  without  injuring  yourself,  do  so. 

"Yours  sincerely, 
"Henry  George." 

Marysville,  Nov.  8,  1863. 

"Dear  Harry:  I  received  your  note  a  few  days  ago. 
I  do  not  think  I  will  be  able  to  come  down  for  a  month 
yet.  I  cannot  raise  the  money.  Unless  something 
turns  up  before  Christmas  I  am  gone  in.  I  have  gone 
everything  on  copper  and  now  I  see  no  way  of  extricat- 
ing myself,  unless  I  give  up  near  all  my  'feet.'  Plenty 
have  Swansea  who  will  not  sell  at  any  price,  and  others 
again  can  hardly  give  it  away.  We  are  about  giving  a 
contract  to  sink  a  shaft  35  feet  deeper.  The  majority 
of  the  company  think  it  will  pay  its  own  way  after  we  get 
down  10  feet  farther.  An  assessment  on  the  Swansea 
is  levied — ten  cents  a  foot,  payable  before  the  20th  of 
this  month. 

"It  is  very  uncertain  about  my  stopping  here  any 
length  of  time,  for  I  am  very  much  discouraged  and 
feel  like  starting  out  on  the  hills  to  prospect.  I  want 
excitement  and  think  I  could  get  plenty  of  it  on  a  pros- 
pecting tour.  I  have  a  good  locality  in  view  where  they 
have  struck  the  richest  kind  of  copper  (so  it  is  said). 
If  I  could  only  hold  onto  my  stock  a  few  months  longer 
I  feel  confident  I  must  come  out  all  right. 

"Harry,  the  Swansea  is  actually  worth  $6.00  per  foot, 
but  people  here  have  paid  out  considerable  this  summer, 
and  likewise  the  market  is  over-stocked  with  'feet,'  and 
folks  have  been  'stuck'  so  often  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  get  men  to  purchase  in  any  claim  no  matter  how 
cheap  it  is  offered.  If  one  offers  to  sell  low  they  come 
to  the  conclusion  it  is  a  sell,  no  matter  how  good  your 
prospect  is.  And  so  it  is,  and  so  it  will  be,  so  long  as 
men  will  be  found  who  are  ever  willing  to  swindle  their 
fellow  men  for  the  sake  of  a  few  paltry  dollars.  If  I 
had  been  mean  enough  to  take  advantage  of  parties 
who  had  placed  confidence  in  me  since  I  have  been  on 
the  'copper  lay,'  I   could  have  come  out  considerably 


Age,  22-26]  SPECULATORS  GO  BROKE  141 

ahead  by  this  time.  I  do  not  regret  acting  honourably 
to  them,  but  I  do  think  there  is  a  mighty  slim  chance 
for  'the  poor  whites'  ever  making  anything  by  acting 
on  the  square. 

"I  feel  quite  depressed  in  spirits,  but  nevertheless,  I 
am  determined  to  persevere  and  try  it  again.  As  Mc- 
Fadden  said :  'It  is  a  gold  ring  or  a  wooden  leg.' 

"I  have  had  sad  news  from  home — a  death  in  the 
family  and  my  mother  in  poor  circumstances.  And  to 
think  I  cannot  send  her  one  dollar  at  present !  'It  is 
hard,  but  I  suppose  fair.'  If  I  live,  by  the  help  of  God, 
I  will  come  out  all  right  yet. 

"My  love  to  all, 

"Isaac  Trump." 

In  the  end — and  the  end  was  soon  after  the  interchange 
of  these  letters — the  mining  ventures  involved  the  two 
speculators  in  the  loss  of  nearly  all  that  they  had  invested. 
In  his  efforts  to  "get  his  nose  out  of  the  space  box,"  George 
had  been  trying  about  this  time  to  promote  a  project  for 
a  newspaper  in  the  mining  region  of  Eeese  River,  but  this, 
too,  had  failed,  and  the  year  was  closing  with  him  in 
v/hat  to  a  man  in  his  circumstances  were  embarrassing 
debts. 

It  had  been  a  year  of  hard  work  and  considerable  worry 
with  the  young  printer,  affording  little  time  for  attention 
to  occurrences  beyond  his  own  small  sphere ;  yet  two  events 
of  first  magnitude  engaged  his  earnest  thought.  On  Jan- 
uary 1,  1863,  President  Inncoln  issued  his  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  which  forever  killed  chattel  bondage  in  the 
United  States,  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  changing  the 
issue  from  secession  to  slavery,  gave  the  North  new  vigour 
for  the  conflict  and  cut  off  the  South' s  hope  of  foreign  aid. 

The  other  event  that  intensely  interested  George  was 
close  at  hand.  Lcland  Stanford,  a  grocery  and  provision 
dealer  in  Sacramento,  had  been  elected  to  the  office  of 


142  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEOKGE  [1861-1805 

Governor  of  California  on  the  new  Eepnblican  part}^  tidal 
Avave.  He  was  also  president  of  the  Central  Pacific  Eail- 
road  Company  and  on  the  8th  of  January,  1863,  amid  a 
crowd  of  people  at  the  corner  of  Front  and  K  Streets, 
Sacramento,  he  turned  the  first  shovelful  of  earth  in  the 
construction  of  a  railroad  system  which  at  that  time  looked 
puny  enough,  but  which,  under  the  extraordinarily  ener- 
getic, able  and  unscrupulous  management  of  Stanford, 
Charles  Crocker,  a  Sacramento  dry  goods  merchant,  and 
Collis  P.  Huntington  and  Mark  Hopkins,  Sacramento 
hardware  dealers,  was  within  the  next  half  dozen  years 
to  cross  the  State,  climb  over  the  mountains,  span  the 
Nevada  desert,  and  meeting  the  line  coming  from  the 
Missouri  Eiver,  join  with  unbroken  track,  the  West  with 
the  East.  The  young  hard-working  printer  took  an  in- 
tense interest  in  what  nearly  everyone  in  the  State  at 
the  time  seemed  to  hail  with  applause.  He  may,  indeed, 
have  been  one  of  the  unnoticed  men  in  the  crowd  at  the 
initial  ceremonies;  but  his  mind  beginning  to  open,  ques- 
tions were  beginning  to  creep  in,  and  he  was  before  long 
to  see  that  the  enterprise — and  likewise  every  such  enter- 
prise— in  private  hands,  must  involve  gigantic  public  evils. 
And  taking  a  clear  mental  stand  against  this,  thought 
was  to  expand  to  other  and  deeper  problems,  and  at  length 
bring  the  obscure  type-setter  into  the  world's  gaze  as  a 
new  champion  of  equal  rights.  But  no  outward  sign 
of  such  thought  was  to  appear  for  years  yet. 

The  first  break  in  Mr.  George's  affairs  at  Sacramento 
was  on  the  26th  of  January,  1861,  after  he  had  been 
working  on  the  "Union"  for  more  than  a  year.  That 
evening,  after  the  midnight  lunch,  he  got  into  an  alterca- 
tion with  the  foreman,  John  Timmins,  about  some  matter 
that  does  not  now  appear  clear,  and  was  discharged.  He 
was  too  proud  to  linger  around  or  try  to  get  back,  and  two 


Age,2--2iij  PEDDLING  CLOTHES  WRINaERS  143 

days  later  left  by  steamer  for  San  Francisco  to  look  for 
work  there.^  The  day  after  his  arrival  in  San  Francisco 
he  wrote  to  his  wife : 

"Times  seem  pretty  dull  here,  but  I  think  I  can  get 
along.  Anyhow  we  will  try.  I  staid  at  the  'What  Cheer 
House'  last  night.  My  darling,  I  don't  know  how  much 
I  love  you  until  I  am  separated  from  you.  I  don't 
believe  I  could  live  without  you.  And  the  dear  little 
fellow — how  I  love  him !" 

The  young  wife,  with  the  baby,  at  once  followed  her 
husband  to  San  Francisco  where  they  went  for  a  few  days 
to  the  old  Oriental  Hotel,  then  very  much  run  down,  and 
afterwards  took  private  rooms.  The  husband  was  on  the 
alert  for  work  from  the  moment  he  had  arrived.  Nothing 
whatever  presented  itself  until  Knowlton  of  the  "Evening 
Journal"  suggested  that  he  canvass  for  subscribers  for 
that  paper  on  a  commission  basis.  Isaac  Trump,  pur- 
sued by  hard  luck,  had  meanwhile  come  down  from  the 
mountains  and  was  trying  to  see  what  he  could  do  at  sell- 
ing clothes  wringers,  and  he  suggested  that  George  should 
sell  some  wringers  at  the  same  time  that  he  canvassed  for 
the  newspaper.  George  started  out  vigorously  on  the  plan, 
but  after  five  days  of  hard  walking  and  talking  through 
the  suburban  parts  of  Alameda  County,  just  across 
San  Francisco  Bay,  he  returned  without  having  sold  a 
single  wringer  and  with  scarcely  more  than  half  a  dozen 
subscribers.  Then  he  went  to  setting  type  on  the  "Even- 
ing Journal,"  though  the  paper  was  in  an  obviously  shaky 

1 A  few  years  later,  when  Charles  De  Young  was  about  to  start  the 
•'Daily  Chronicle,"  with  Henry  George  as  managing  editor,  the  latter  recom- 
mended Timmiiis  for  the  position  of  foreman,  saying  that  though  he  and 
Timmins  had  parted  in  ill-feeling,  Timmins  was  an  excellent  workman 
and  worthy  of  the  post.     Timmins  obtained  the  place. 


144  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1861-1865 

condition,  and  he  had  difficulty  in  getting  his  wages.  In- 
deed, the  money  due  for  his  share  in  the  paper  sold  more 
than  two  years  before  had  not  yet  been  fully  paid  him.  But 
for  a  time  no  other  position  opened  to  him.  He  was  now 
nearly  two  hundred  dollars  in  debt,  with  no  prospect  of 
steady  employment.  However,  one  of  the  regular  t}'pe- 
setters  on  the  "Evening  Bulletin"  being  taken  down  with 
a  serious  illness,  George  received  a  call  to  the  place  as 
substitute  and  made  good  wages  while  the  position  lasted. 
In  April  he  left  the  "Bulletin"  and  went  on  the  "Ameri- 
can Flag."  A  little  later,  having  got  somewhat  out  of 
debt,  he  and  his  wife  took  a  little  house  on  Kuss  Street,  or 
rather  the  upper  flat  of  a  two-story  wooden  house,  and 
paid  eighteen  dollars  rent.  A  change  came  in  the  "Flag" 
office  on  October  18,  Avhen  the  foreman,  Mr.  Bradford,  dis- 
charged Mr.  George  for  "claiming  an  advertisement."  Next 
day  the  young  man  asked  for  a  meeting  of  the  "chapel" 
(the  body  of  journeyman  printers  in  the  office),  and  after 
a  hearing,  was  justified  and  under  the  typographical  union 
rules  was  entitled  to  go  back  to  work,  but  feeling  that  the 
foreman  had  taken  a  dislike  to  him,  he  concluded  to  re- 
sign. This  threw  him  back  upon  "subbing"  and  he  worked 
around  odd  days  and  nights  wherever  a  friend  laid  off  and 
gave  him  a  call.  All  during  the  year  he  had  at  various 
times  been  talking  Avith  first  one  and  then  another  about 
newspaper  schemes  that  would  give  him  better  wages,  in 
the  future  if  not  at  once,  and  a  chance  to  do  something 
more  than  set  type.  He  talked  of  the  Sonora  "Eagle," 
and  of  starting  papers  at  Silver  Mountain,  Susanville, 
and  La  Paz,  but  none  of  these  schemes  took  form,  and 
when  Isaac  Trump  suggested  going  into  a  partnership 
with  him  and  a  skilled  job  type  setter  named  Peter  Daley 
in  a  job-printing  office,  he  decided  that  that  was  the  thing 
to  do. 


Age,  22-26]  VERSATILE  ISAAC  TRUMP  145 

Isaac  Trump  was  a  square,  generous-minded  man,  of 
restless  nature,  sanguine  temperament  and  great  ene^g}^ 
With  small  schooling,  he  had  a  shrewdness  and  quickness 
of  mind  that  adapted  him  to  circumstances,  and  a  love 
of  mechanical  contrivances  that  made  him  ready  to  turn 
his  hand  to  anything.  The  ways  that  Trump  had  tried 
during  the  past  few  years  to  make  a  living  were  legion. 
He  had  learned  the  trade  of  gas  fitter  in  his  native  city 
of  Philadelphia,  had  shipped  on  the  Shubrick  for  Cali- 
fornia as  coal  passer,  had  attempted  farming  on  landing,^ 
had  lived  for  a  while  hy  mending  pumps  and  when  that 
failed  took  to  mending  watches,  though  he  knew  little 
about  either;  had  "gone  broke"  at  mining,  and  when  he 
had  done  a  job  of  wall  papering  and  the  complaint  was 
made  that  the  figure  in  the  paper  was  up-side-down,  he 
admitted  that  that  was  so,  but  that  he  had  supposed  the 
job  was  to  be  done  in  "first-class  Eastern  style"  where  it 
had  become  the  fashion  to  invert  the  paper!  He  had 
got  a  delivery  route  on  the  "Flag,"  but  sold  it  and  now 
panted  for  a  job-printing  office,  suggesting  that  he  should 
solicit  business  while  Daley  and  George  should  set  type  and 
do  the  mechancial  work.  The  "Evening  Journal"  had  at 
last  died  in  June  and  its  plant  of  type  was  lying  idle.  In 
December,  1864,  George  purchased  some  of  this  plant  for 
the  new  business,  agreeing  to  pay  $400  and  give  $100 

1  In  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  Henry  George  makes  reference 
to  Trump's  farming  (p.  500).  "On  going  ashore  in  San  Francisco,  a  ship- 
mate of  mine,  who  could  not  tell  a  scythe  from  a  marlinspike,  hired  out 
to  a  farmer  in  haying-time  for  $5  a  day.  At  his  first  stroke  with  the 
scythe  he  ran  it  so  deep  in  the  ground  that  he  nearly  broke  it  in  getting 
it  out.  Though  he  indignantly  denounced  such  antiquated  tools  as  out 
of  fashion,  declaring  that  he  was  used  to  "  the  patent  scythes  that  turn 
up  at  the  end,"  he  did  not  really  feel  wronged  that  the  farmer  would  not 
pay  him  a  cent,  as  he  knew  that  the  agreement  for  day's  labour  was 
really  an  agreement  for  so  much  mowing." 


146  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1861-1865 

worth  of  work,  making  money  payment  in  what  cash  he 
could  borrow  and  giving  notes  for  the  remainder. 

Thus  heavily  weighted  at  the  outset,  the  three  men 
opened  their  office.  But  hard  times  had  come.  A  drought 
had  shortened  the  grain  crop,  killed  great  numbers  of  cat- 
tle and  lessened  the  gold  supply,  and  the  losses  that  the 
farming,  ranching  and  mineral  regions  suffered  affected 
all  the  commercial  and  industrial  activities  of  the  State, 
so  that  there  was  a  general  depression.  Business  not  com- 
ing into  their  office,  the  three  partners  went  out  to  hunt 
for  it;  and  yet  it  was  elusive,  so  that  they  had  very  little 
to  do  and  soon  were  in  extremities  for  living  necessities, 
even  for  wood  for  the  kitchen  fire.  Henry  George  had 
fitfully  kept  a  pocket  diary  during  1864,  and  a  few  entries 
at  this  job-printing  period  tell  of  the  pass  of  affairs. 

"December  25.  Determined  to  keep  a  regular  jour- 
nal, and  to  cultivate  habits  of  determination,  energy 
and  industry.  Feel  that  I  am  in  a  bad  situation,  and 
must  use  my  utmost  effort  to  keep  afloat  and  go  ahead. 
Will  try  to  follow  the  following  general  rules  for  one 
week: 

"1st.  In  every  case  to  determine  rationally  what  is 
best  to  be  done. 

"2nd.  To  do  everything  determined  upon  immedi- 
ately, or  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  presents. 

"3rd.  To  write  down  what  I  shall  determine  upon 
doing  for  the  succeeding  day. 

"Saw  landlady  and  told  her  I  was  not  able  to  pay  rent. 

"December  26.     7a.m.  : 

"1st.  Propose  to-day  in  addition  to  work  in  office, 
to  write  to  Boyne. 

"2nd.  To  get  wood  in  trade. 

"3rd.  To  talk  with  Dr.  Eaton,  and  perhaps,  Dr. 
Morse. 


Age,  22-26]  AT  DEAD  LOW  EBB  147 

"Rose  at  quarter  to  seven.  Stopped  at  six  wood  yards 
trying  to  get  wood  in  exchange  for  printing,  but  failed. 
Did  very  little  in  office.  Walked  and  talked  with  Ike. 
Felt  very  blue  and  thought  of  drawing  out.  Saw  Dr. 
Eaton,  but  failed  to  make  a  trade.  In  evening  saw  Dr. 
Morse.  Have  not  done  all,  nor  as  well  as  I  could  wish. 
Also  wrote  to  Boyne,  but  did  not  mail  letter. 

"January  1.  (Sunday)  Annie  not  very  well.  Got 
down  town  about  11  o'clock.  Went  with  Ike  to  China- 
man's to  see  about  paper  bags.  Eeturned  to  office  and 
worked  off  a  lot. 

"January  2.  Got  down  town  about  8  o'clock.  Worked 
some  labels.     Not  much  doing. 

"January  3.  Working  in  office  all  day.  DeLong 
called  to  talk  about  getting  out  a  journal.  Did  our  best 
day's  work." 

From  time  to  time  they  got  a  little  business,  enough 
at  any  rate  to  encourage  Trump  and  George  to  continue 
with  the  office,  though  Daley  dropped  out;  and  each  day 
that  the  money  was  there  the  two  partners  took  out  of 
the  business  twenty-five  cents  apiece,  which  they  together 
spent  for  food.  Trump's  wife  being  with  her  relatives  and 
he  taking  his  dinner  with  the  Georges.  They  lived  chiefly 
on  corn  meal  and  milk,  potatoes,  bread  and  sturgeon,  for 
meat  they  could  not  afford  and  sturgeon  was  the  cheapest 
fish  they  could  find.^  Mr.  George  generally  went  to  the 
office  early  without  breakfast,  saying  that  he  would  get  it 
down  town;  but  knowing  that  he  had  no  money,  his  wife 
more  than  suspected  that  many  a  morning  passed  with- 
out his  getting  a  mouthful.     Nor  could  he  borrow  money 

1  Unlike  that  fish  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  sturgeon  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  or 
at  any  rate  in  California  waters,  is  of  fine  quality  and  could  easily  be  sub- 
stituted on  the  table  for  halibut. 


148  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORG"E  [1861-1865 

except  occasionally,  for  the  drought  that  had  made  gen- 
eral business  so  bad  had  hurt  all  his  friends,  and  indeed, 
many  of  them  had  already  borrowed  from  him  while  he 
had  anything  to  lend;  and  he  was  too  proud  to  com- 
plain now  to  them.  Nor  did  his  wife  complain,  though 
what  deepened  their  anxieties  was  that  they  looked  for 
the  coming  of  a  second  child.  Mrs.  George  would  not 
run  up  bills  that  she  did  not  have  money  to  meet.  She 
parted  with  her  little  pieces  of  jewellery  and  smaller  trin- 
kets one  by  one,  until  only  her  wedding  ring  had  not  been 
pawned.  And  then  she  told  the  milkman  that  she  could 
no  longer  afford  to  take  milk,  but  he  offered  to  continue 
to  supply  it  for  printed  cards,  which  she  accepted.  Mr. 
George's  diary  is  blank  just  here,  but  at  another  time  he 
said  :^ 

"I  came  near  starving  to  death,  and  at  one  time  I 
was  so  close  to  it  that  I  think  I  should  have  done  so  but 
for  the  job  of  printing  a  few  cards  which  enabled  us  to 
buy  a  little  corn  meal.  In  this  darkest  time  in  my 
life  my  second  child  was  born." 

The  baby  came  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Janu- 
ary 27,  1865.  MQien  it  was  born  the  wife  heard  the  doc- 
tor say:  "Don't  stop  to  wash  the  child;  he  is  starving. 
Feed  him !"  After  the  doctor  had  gone  and  mother  and 
baby  had  fallen  asleep,  the  husband  left  them  alone  in 
the  house,  and  taking  the  elder  child  to  a  neighbour's, 
himself  went  to  his  business  in  a  desperate  state  of  mind, 
for  his  wife's  condition  made  money — some  money — an 
absolute  and  immediate  necessity.  But  nothing  came  into 
the  office  and  he  did  not  know  where  to  borrow.  What 
then  happened  he  told  sixteen  years  subsequently. 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


Age,  22-26]  SECOND  CHILD  BORN  149 

"I  walked  along  the  street  and  made  up  my  mind  to 
get  money  from  the  first  man  whose  appearance  might 
indicate  that  he  had  it  to  give.  I  stopped  a  man — a 
stranger — and  told  him  I  wanted  $5.  He  asked  what 
I  wanted  it  for.  I  told  him  that  my  wife  was  confined 
and  that  I  had  nothing  to  give  her  to  eat.  He  gave  me 
the  money.  If  he  had  not,  I  think  I  was  desperate 
enough  to  have  killed  him."  ^ 

The  diary  notes  commence  again  twenty  days  after  the 
new  baby's  birth  and  show  that  the  struggle  for  subsist- 
ence was  still  continuing,  that  Henry  George  abandoned 
the  job-printing  office  and  that  he  and  his  wife  and  babies 
had  moved  into  a  smaller  house  where  he  had  to  pay  a 
rent  of  only  nine  dollars  a  month — Just  half  of  his  former 
rent.  This  diary  consists  simply  of  two  half  sheets  of 
white  note  paper,  folded  twice  and  pinned  in  the  middle, 
forming  two  small  neat  books  of  eight  pages  each  of  about 
the  size  of  a  visiting  card.  The  writing  is  very  small, 
but  clear. 

"Feb.  17,  1865.  (Friday)  10:40  p.m.  Gave  I. 
Trump  this  day  bill  of  sale  for  my  interest  in  office, 
with  the  understanding  that  if  he  got  any  money  by 
selling,  I  am  to  get  some.  I  am  now  afloat  again,  with 
the  world  before  me.  I  have  commenced  this  little  book 
as  an  experiment — to  aid  me  in  acquiring  habits  of  regu- 

1  Henry  George  related  this  incident  to  Dr.  James  E.  Kelly  in  a  conver- 
sation in  Dublin  during  the  winter  of  1881-82,  in  proof  that  environment 
has  more  to  do  with  human  actions,  and  especially  with  so-called  criminal 
actions,  than  we  generally  concede  ;  and  to  show  how  acute  poverty  may 
drive  sound-minded  moral  men  to  the  commission  of  deeds  that  are  sup- 
posed to  belong  entirely  to  hardened  evil  natures.  Out  of  long  philosoph- 
ical and  physiological  talks  together  at  that  time  the  two  men  formed  a 
warm  friendship,  and  subsequently,  when  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  established  himself  in  New  York,  Dr.  Kelly  became  Henry  George's 
family  physician  and  attended  him  at  his  death-bed. 


150  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1861-1865 

larity,  punctuality  and  purpose.  I  will  enter  in  it  each 
evening  the  principal  events  of  the  day,  with  notes,  if 
they  occur,  errors  committed  or  the  reverse,  and  plans 
for  the  morrow  and  future.  I  will  make  a  practice  of 
looking  at  it  on  rising  in  the  morning. 

"I  am  starting  out  afresh,  very  much  crippled  and 
embarrassed,  owing  over  $200.  I  have  been  unsuccess- 
ful in  everything.  I  wish  to  profit  by  my  experience 
and  to  cultivate  those  qualities  necessary  to  success  in 
which  I  have  been  lacking.  I  have  not  saved  as  much 
as  I  ought  and  am  resolved  to  practice  a  rigid  economy 
until  I  have  something  ahead. 

"1st.     To  make  every  cent  I  can. 
"2nd.  To  spend  nothing  unnecessarily. 
"3rd.  To  put  something  by  each  week,  if  it  is  only  a 
five  cent  piece  borrowed  for  the  purpose. 
"4th.  Not  to  run  in  debt  if  it  can  be  avoided. 

"1st.  To  endeavour  to  make  an  acquaintance  and 
friend  of  every  one  with  whom  I  am  brought  in  contact. 

"2nd.  To  stay  at  home  less,  and  be  more  social. 

"3rd.  To  strive  to  think  consecutively  and  decide 
qnieklj. 

"Feb.  18.  Rose  at  6  o'clock.  Took  cards  to  wood- 
man. Went  to  post  office  and  got  two  letters,  one  from 
Wallazz  and  another  from  mother.  Heard  that  Smith 
was  up  and  would  probably  not  go  down.  Tried  to  hunt 
him  up.  Ran  around  after  him  a  great  deal.  Saw 
him;  made  an  appointment,  but  he  did  not  come. 
Finally  met  him  about  4.  He  said  that  he  had  written  up 
for  a  man,  who  had  first  choice ;  but  he  would  do  all  he 
could.  I  was  much  disappointed.  Went  back  to  office ; 
then  after  Knowlton,  but  got  no  money.  Then  went  to 
'Alta'  office.  Smith  there.  Stood  talking  till  they  went 
to  work.  Then  to  job  office.  Ike  bad  got  four  bits 
[50  cents]  from  Dr.  Josselyn.  Went  home,  and  he  came 
out  to  supper. 


From  daguerreotype  taken  in  1865,  sliowing  Mr.  George  at  26,  just 
after  job  printiug  office  experience. 


Age,  22-26]  EVERYTHING  UNSUCCESSFUL  151 

"Got  up  in  good  season. 

"Tried  to  be  energetic  about  seeing  Smith.  Have 
not  done  with  that  matter  yet,  but  will  try  every  means. 

"To-morrow  will  write  to  Cousin  Sophia/  and  per- 
haps to  Wallazz  and  mother,  and  will  try  to  make  ac- 
quaintances.    Am  in  very  desperate  plight.     Courage !" 


"Feb.  19.  (Sunday)  Eose  about  9.  Ean  a  small 
bill  with  Wessling  for  flour,  coffee  and  butter.  After 
breakfast  took  Harry  around  to  Wilbur's.  Talked 
awhile.  Went  down  town.  Could  not  get  in  office. 
Went  into  'Alta'  office  several  times.  Then  walked 
around,  hoping  to  strike  Smith.  Ike  to  dinner.  After- 
wards walked  with  him,  looking  for  house.  Was  at 
*Alta'  office  at  6,  but  no  work.  Went  with  Ike  to  Stick- 
ney's  and  together  went  to  'Californian'  office.  Came 
home  and  summed  up  assets  and  liabilities.  At  10 
went  to  bed,  with  determination  of  getting  up  at  6  and 
going  to  'Bulletin'  office. 

"Have  wasted  a  great  deal  of  time  in  looking  for 
Smith.  Think  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  hunted 
him  at  once  or  else  trusted  to  luck.  There  seems  to  be 
very  little  show  for  me  down  there.  Don't  know  what 
to  do. 


"Feb.  20.  Got  up  too  late  to  go  to  the  'Bulletin' 
office.  Got  $1  from  woodman.  Got  my  pants  from 
the  tailor.  Saw  Smith  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him. 
He  seemed  sorr}'^  that  he  had  not  thought  of  me,  but 
said  another  man  had  been  spoken  to  and  was  anxious 
to  go.  Went  to  'Alta'  office  several  times.  Came  home 
early  and  went  to  'Alta'  office  at  6  and  to  'Call'  at  7, 
but  got  no  work.  Went  to  Ike  Trump's  room,  and  then 
came  home. 


1  Slie  was  now  a  widow,  James  George  having  died  in  the 
preceding  August. 


152  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [I8GI-I86S 

"Was  not  prompt  enough  in  rising.  Have  been  walk- 
ing around  a  good  part  of  the  day  without  definite  pur- 
pose, thereby  losing  time. 

"Feb.  21.  Worked  for  Ike.  Did  two  cards  for  $1. 
Saw  about  books,  and  thought  some  of  travelling  with 
them.  Went  to  'Alta'  before  coming  home.  In  even- 
ing had  row  with  Chinaman.     Foolish. 

"Feb.  32.  Hand  very  sore.  Did  not  go  down  till 
late.  Went  to  work  in  'Bulletin'  at  13.  Got  $3.  Saw 
Boyne.  Went  to  library  in  evening.  Thinking  of 
economy. 

"Feb.  26.  Went  to  'Bulletin' ;  no  work.  Went  with 
Ike  Trump  to  look  at  house  on  hill;  came  home  to 
breakfast.  Decided  to  take  house  on  Perry  Street  with 
Mrs.  Stone;  took  it.  Came  home  and  moved.  Paid 
$5  of  rent.  About  6  o'clock  went  down  town.  Saw 
Ike;  got  50  cents.  Walked  around  and  went  to  Typo- 
graphical Union  meeting.  Then  saw  Ike  again.  Found 
Knowlton  had  paid  him  for  printing  plant,  and  de- 
manded some  of  the  money.  He  gave  me  $5  with  very 
bad  humour. 

"Feb.  27.  Saw  Ike  in  afternoon  and  had  further 
talk.  In  evening  went  to  work  for  Col.  Strong  on 
'Alta.'     Smith  lent  me  $3. 

"Feb.  28.  Worked  again  for  Strong.  Got  $5  from 
John  McComb. 

"Feb.  29.  Got  $5  from  Barstow,  and  paid  Charlie 
Coddington  the  $10  I  had  borrowed  from  him  on  Fri- 
day last.  On  Monday  left  at  Mrs.  Landers  [the  Kuss 
Street  landlady]  $1.25  for  extra  rent  and  $1.50  for 
milkman. 

"March  1.  Eose  early,  went  to  'Bulletin';  but  got 
no  work.     Looked  in  at  Valentine's  and  saw  George 


Age,  22-26]  LUCK  TURNS  153 

Foster,  who  told  me  to  go  to  Frank  Eastman's  [print- 
ing office].  Did  so  and  was  told  to  call  again.  Came 
home;  had  breakfast.  Went  to  'Alta'  in  evening,  hut 
no  work.  Went  to  Germania  Lodge  and  then  to  Stick- 
ney's. 

"March  2.     Went  to  Eastman's  about  11  o'clock  and 
was  put  to  work. 

"March  3.     At  work. 

"March  4,     At  work.     Got  $5  in  evening." 

The  strength  of  the  storm  had  now  passed.  The  young 
printer  began  to  get  some  work  at  "subbing,"  though  it 
was  scant  and  irregular.  His  wife,  who  paid  the  second 
month's  rent  of  the  Perry  Street  house  by  sewing  for  her 
landlady,  remarked  to  her  husband  how  contentedly  they 
should  be  able  to  live  if  he  could  be  sure  of  making  regu- 
larly twenty  dollars  a  week. 


CHAPTER    X. 
BEGINS   WRITING   AND   TALKING. 

1865-1866.  Age,  26-27. 

HENRY  GEORGE'S  career  as  a  writer  should  be 
dated  from  the  commencement  of  1865,  when  he 
was  an  irregular,  substitute  printer  at  Eastman's  and  on 
the  daily  newspapers,  just  after  his  severe  job-office  experi- 
ence. He  now  deliberately  set  himself  to  self-improve- 
ment. These  few  diary  notes  for  the  end  of  March  and 
beginning  of  April  are  found  in  a  small  blank  book  that 
in  1878,  while  working  on  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  he 
also  used  as  a  diary. 

"Saturday,  March  25,  1865.  As  I  knew  we  would 
have  no  letter  this  morning,  I  did  not  hurry  down  to 
the  office.  After  getting  breakfast,  took  the  wringing 
machine  which  I  had  been  using  as  a  samj^le  back  to 
Faulkner's;  then  went  to  Eastman's  and  saw  to  bill; 
loafed  around  until  about  2  p.m.  Concluded  that  the 
best  thing  I  could  do  would  be  to  go  home  and  write 
a  little.  Came  home  and  wrote  for  the  sake  of  prac- 
tice an  essay  on  the  'Use  of  Time,'  which  occupied  me 
until  Annie  prepared  dinner.  Went  to  Eastman's  by 
six,  got  money.     Went  to  Union  meeting. 

"Sunday,  March  26.  Did  not  get  out  until  11  o'clock. 
Took  Harry  down  town  and  then  to  Wilbur's.  Pro- 
posed to  have  Dick  [the  new  baby]  baptised  in  after- 
noon; got  Mrs.  Casey  to  come  to  the  house  for  that 

154 


Age,  26-27]  NOTES  ABOUT  WRITING  155 

purpose,  but  concluded  to  wait.  Went  to  see  Dull,  who 
took  me  to  his  shop  and  showed  me  the  model  of  his 
wagon  brake. 

"Monday,  March  27.  Got  down  to  office  about  one 
o'clock;  but  no  proofs  yet.  Strolled  around  a  little. 
Went  home  and  wrote  communication  for  Aleck  Ken- 
neday's  new  paper,  'Journal  of  the  Trades  and  Work- 
ingmen.'  Took  it  down  to  him.  In  the  evening  called 
on  Eev.  Mr.  Simonds. 

"Tuesday,  28.  Got  down  late.  ISTo  work.  In  after- 
noon wrote  article  about  laws  relating  to  sailors.  In 
evening  went  down  to  Dull's  shop  while  he  was  engaged 
on  model. 

"Wednesday,  29.  Went  to  work  about  10.30.  In 
evening  corrected  proof  for  'Journal  of  the  Trades  and 
Workingmen.' 

"Thursday,  30.     At  work. 

"Tuesday,  April  4.  Despatch  received  stating  that 
Eichmond  and  Petersburg!!  are  both  in  our  possession. 

"Wednesday,  5.  Took  model  of  wagon  brake  to  sev- 
eral carriage  shops;  also  to  'Alta'  office.  In  evening 
signed  agreement  with  Dull. 

"Saturday,  8.  Not  working;  bill  for  week,  $23. 
Paid  Frank  Mahon  the  $5  I  have  been  owing  for  some 
time.  Met  Harrison  who  has  just  come  down  from  up 
the  country.  He  has  a  good  thing  up  there.  Talked 
with  Dull  and  drew  up  advertisement.  In  evening, 
nothing." 


Thus  while  he  was  doing  hap-hazard  type-setting,  and 
trying  to  interest  carriage  builders  in  a  new  wagon  brake, 
lie  was  also  beginning  to  write.  The  first  and  most  im- 
])ortant  of  these  pieces  of  writing  mentioned  in  the  diary 
notes — on  "the  use  of  time" — was  sent  by  Mr.  George  to 
his  mother,  as  an  indication  of  his  intention  to  improve 
himself.  Commencing  with  boyhood,  Henry  George,  as  has 
been  seen,  had  the  power  of  simple  and  clear  statement, 
and  if  this  essay  served  no  other  purpose  than  to  show  the 


156  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [186^1866 

development  of  that  natural  power,  it  would  be  of  value. 
But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  a  far  greater  value;  for 
while  repeating  his  purpose  to  practise  writing — "to  ac- 
quire facility  and  elegance  in  the  expression"  of  his 
thought — it  gives  an  introspective  glimpse  into  the  natu- 
rally secretive  mind,  revealing  an  intense  desire,  if  not  for 
the  "flesh  pots  of  Egypt,"  at  least  for  such  creature  and 
intellectual  comforts  as  would  enable  him  and  those  close 
to  him  "to  bask  themselves  in  the  warm  sunshine  of  the 
brief  day."     This  paper  is  presented  in  full : 

Essay,  Saturday  Afternoon,  March  25,  1865. 
"On  the  Profitable  Employmext  of  Time." 

"Most  of  us  have  some  principal  object  of  desire  at 
any  given  time  of  our  lives;  something  which  we  wish 
more  than  anything  else,  either  because  its  want  is  more 
felt,  or  that  it  includes  other  desirable  things,  and  we 
are  conscious  that  in  gaining  it  we  obtain  the  means  of 
gratifying  other  of  our  wishes. 

"With  most  of  us,  this  power,  in  one  shape  or  the 
other — is  money,  or  that  which  is  its  equivalent  or  will 
bring  it. 

"For  this  end  we  subject  ourselves  to  many  sacri- 
fices; for  its  gain  we  are  willing  to  confine  ourselves 
and  employ  our  minds  and  bodies  in  duties  which,  for 
their  own  sakes  are  irksome;  and  if  we  do  not  throw  the 
whole  force  of  our  natures  into  the  effort  to  gain  this, 
it  is  that  we  do  not  possess  the  requisite  patience,  self- 
command,  and  penetration  where  we  may  direct  our 
efforts. 

"I  am  constantly  longing  for  wealth ;  the  wide  differ- 
ence between  my  wishes  and  the  means  of  gratifying 
them  at  my  command  keeps  me  in  perpetual  disquiet. 
It  would  bring  me  comfort  and  luxury  which  I  cannot 
now  obtain;  it  would  give  me  more  congenial  employ- 
ment and  associates;  it  would  enable  me  to  cultivate 


Age.  26-27]  ESSAY  ON  USE  or  TIME  157 

my  mind  and  exert  to  a  fuller  extent  my  powers;  it 
would  give  me  the  ability  to  minister  to  the  comfort  and 
enjoyment  of  those  whom  I  love  most,  and  therefore, 
it  is  my  principal  object  in  life  to  obtain  wealth,  or  at 
least,  more  of  it  than  I  have  at  present. 

"Whether  this  is  right  or  wrong,  I  do  not  now  con- 
sider; but  that  it  is  so  I  am  conscious.  When  I  look 
behind  at  my  past  life  I  see  that  I  have  made  little  or 
no  progress,  and  am  disquieted;  when  I  consider  my 
present,  it  is  difficult  to  see  that  I  am  moving  towards 
it  at  all;  and  all  my  comfort  in  this  respect  is  in  the 
hope  of  what  the  future  may  bring  forth. 

"And  yet  my  hopes  are  very  vague  and  indistinct,  and 
my  efforts  in  any  direction,  save  the  beaten  track  in 
which  I  have  been  used  to  earn  my  bread,  are,  when 
perceptible,  jerky,  irregular  and  without  intelligent,  con- 
tinuous direction. 

"When  I  succeed  in  obtaining  employment,  I  am  in- 
dustrious and  work  faithfully,  though  it  does  not  sat- 
isfy my  wishes.  When  I  have  nothing  to  do,  I  am  anx- 
ious to  be  in  some  way  labouring  towards  the  end  I 
wish,  and  yet  from  hour  to  hour  I  cannot  tell  at  what 
to  employ  myself. 

"To  secure  any  given  result  it  is  only  necessary  to 
rightly  supply  sufficient  force.  Some  men  possess  a 
greater  amount  of  natural  power  than  others  and  pro- 
duce quicker  and  more  striking  results;  yet  it  is  ap- 
parent that  the  abilities  of  the  majority,  if  properly 
and  continuously  applied,  are  sufficient  to  accomplish 
much  more  than  they  generally  do. 

"The  hours  which  I  have  idled  away,  though  made 
miserable  by  the  consciousness  of  accomplishing  nothing, 
had  been  sufficient  to  make  me  master  of  almost  any 
common  branch  of  study.  If,  for  instance,  I  had  ap- 
plied myself  to  the  practice  of  bookkeeping  and  arith- 
metic I  might  now  have  been  an  expert  in  tHose  things; 
or  I  might  have  had  the  dictionary  at  my  fingers'  ends ; 
been  a  practised,  and  perhaps  an  able  writer;  a  much 
better  printer;  or  been  able  to  read  and  write  French, 
Spanish  or  any  other  modern  or  ancient  language  to 
which   I  might  have  directed  my  attention;  and  the 


158  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [186;ki866 

mastery  of  any  of  these  things  now  would  give  me  an 
additional,  appreciable  power,  and  means  by  which  to 
work  to  my  end,  not  to  speak  of  that  which  would  have 
been  gained  by  exercise  and  good  mental  habits. 

"These  truths  are  not  sudden  discoveries;  but  have 
been  as  apparent  for  years  as  at  this  present  time;  but 
always  wishing  for  some  chance  to  make  a  sudden  leap 
forward,  I  have  never  been  able  to  direct  my  mind  and 
concentrate  my  attention  upon  those  slow  processes  by 
which  everything  mental  (and  in  most  cases,  material) 
is  acquired. 

"Constantly  the  mind  works,  and  if  but  a  tithe  of 
its  attention  was  directed  to  some  end,  how  many  mat- 
ters might  it  have  taken  up  in  succession,  increasing  its 
own  stores  and  power  while  mastering  them? 

"To  sum  up  for  the  present,  though  this  essay  has 
hardly  taken  the  direction  and  shape  which  at  the  outset 
I  intended,  it  is  evident  to  me  that  I  have  not  employed 
the  time  and  means  at  my  command  faithfully  and  ad- 
vantageously as  I  might  have  done,  and  consequently, 
that  I  have  myself  to  blame  for  at  least  a  part  of  my 
non-success.  And  this  being  true  of  the  past,  in  the 
future  like  results  will  flow  from  like  causes.  I  will, 
therefore,  try  (though,  as  I  know  from  experience,  it  is 
much  easier  to  form  good  resolutions  than  to  faithfully 
carry  them  out)  to  employ  my  mind  in  acquiring  use- 
ful information  or  practice,  when  I  have  nothing  lead- 
ing more  directly  to  my  end  claiming  my  attention. 
When  practicable,  or  when  I  cannot  decide  upon  any- 
thing else,  I  will  endeavour  to  acquire  facility  and  ele- 
gance in  the  expression  of  my  thought  by  writing  essays 
or  other  matters  which  I  will  preserve  for  future  com- 
parison. And  in  this  practice  it  will  be  well  to  aim  at 
mechanical  neatness  and  grace,  as  well  as  at  proper  and 
polished  language." 

Of  the  two  other  pieces  of  writing  spoken  of  in  the 
diary  notes,  the  "article  about  laws  relating  to  sailors," 
has  left  no  trace,  but  a  copy  of  the  one  for  the  "Journal 
of  the  Trades  and  Workingmen,"  has  been  preserved.     It 


Age,  26-27]  ABOUT  WORKING  MEN  159 

was  a  long  letter  to  the  editor,  signed  "H.  G."  urging 
working  men  to  think  about  political  and  social  questions, 
and  find  if  it  be  possible  to  "check  the  tendency  of  society 
to  resolve  itself  into  classes  who  have  too  much  or  too 
little."     In  closing,  its  author  said : 

"And  so,  Mr.  Editor,  I  hail  with  joy  your  establish- 
ment of  a  paper  which  shall  speak  for  the  working 
classes,  and  through  which  their  most  enlightened  views 
may  be  diffused,  which  may  lead  them  to  think  upon 
problems  for  which  it  is  to  their  best  interests  to  find 
a  solution.  At  a  time  when  most  of  our  public  prints 
pander  to  wealth  and  power  and  would  crush  the  poor 
man  beneath  the  wheel  of  the  capitalist's  carriage ;  when 
one  begins  to  talk  of  the  'work  people'  and  'farm  ser- 
vants' of  this  coast,  and  another  to  deplore  the  high 
rate  of  wages,  and  each  and  all  to  have  quick  reproba- 
tion for  any  effort  of  mechanics  or  labourers  to  obtain 
their  dues,  but  nothing  to  say  against  combinations  to 
deprive  them  of  their  rights,  I,  for  one,  feel  that  your 
enterprise  is  one  which  we  all  should  feel  the  necessity 
of,  and  to  which  we  should  lend  our  cordial  support. 
In  the  columns  of  your  paper  I  hope  to  see  fearless 
opinions  of  men  and  measures  ably  maintained,  and 
the  intelligence  of  our  class  brought  to  the  solution  of 
questions  of  political  and  social  economy  which  deeply 
affect  us;  that  we  may  bring  our  united  efforts  to  the 
advancement  of  those  great  principles  upon  which  our 
republican  institutions  rest,  and  upon  which  we  must 
depend  to  secure  for  us  and  our  children  our  proper 
place  and  rights,  and  for  our  country  her  proud  and 
foremost  rank  among  the  nations." 


It  was  about  this  time  that  in  addition  to  the  writings 
mentioned  in  the  diary,  Henry  George  wrote  a  fanciful 
sketch  entitled  "A  Plea  for  the  Supernatural,"  which  was 
published  in  the  "Californian"  and  soon  afterwards  re- 
published  by   the   Boston    Saturday   "Evening   Gazette." 


160  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1865-1866 

The  "Californian"  was  a  San  Francisco  weekly  literary 
paper  founded  in  186-i,  and  which,  under  the  editorship 
of  Charles  Henry  Webb  and  the  contributing  pens  of 
Mark  Twain,  Bret  Harte  and  a  lot  of  other  bright  writers, 
had  a  brilliant,  if  short,  career — being  spoken  of  as  having 
"lived  to  be  three  5^ears  old  and  never  died."  A.  A.  Stick- 
ney,  a  printer  friend,  who,  while  they  were  in  Sacramento 
working  on  the  "Union"  together,  induced  George  to  join 
the  Odd  Fellows'  Order,  had  bought  into  the  "Califor- 
nian,"  and  it  may  have  been  through  his  influence  that  the 
young  printer's  sketch  was  published.  But  however  pub- 
lished is  not  important,  nor  is  the  sketch  itself,  further 
than  to  furnish  cumulative  evidence  of  the  feverish  energy 
the  young  man  was  evincing  in  pursuit  of  his  purpose  to 
practise  writing — a  spirit  forming  one  of  his  most  marked 
characteristics  when  acting  upon  an  important  resolve. 
He  had  proved  to  himself  that  he  could  write,  and  the  use 
to  which  he  put  his  power  came  suddenly,  unexpectedly 
and  in  a  way  to  affect  his  whole  after  life. 

The  Civil  War  was  now  about  over.  On  April  9,  1865, 
Lee's  army  surrendered.  The  South,  worn  out  by  the 
terrific  struggle  and  by  starvation,  lay  prostrate,  and  the 
whole  North  and  West  indulged  in  demonstrative  rejoic- 
ings over  the  prospect  of  peace  and  harmony  throughout 
a  reunited  country — when,  on  the  night  of  April  14, 
flashed  the  appalling  news  that  President  Lincoln  had  been 
shot.  Never  before  was  seen  such  excitement  in  excitable 
San  Francisco.  This  deed  seemed  like  the  last  desperate 
act  of  the  slave-power,  and  all  manner  of  rumours  of  a  vast 
Southern  conspiracy  of  assassination  were  afloat.  The 
next  day  general  business  was  suspended.  It  was  now 
known  definitely  that  the  President,  while  sitting  in  a 
proscenium  box  at  Ford's  Theatre,  Washington,  witnessing 
the  comedy,  "Our  American  Cousin,"  was  shot  in  the  back 


Age,  26-27]  LINCOLN'S  ASSASSINATION  161 

of  the  head  by  John  Wilkes  Booth,  an  actor,  who  had 
stealthily  approached  from  behind,  and  brandishing  a 
knife,  had  leaped  from  the  box  to  the  stage,  crying  out  in 
the  hearing  of  the  dumb-stricken  audience,  "Sic  semper 
tyrannis:  the  South  is  avenged!" 

When  news  came  that  Lincoln  had  died  of  his  wound 
excitement  in  San  Francisco  ran  mad.  To  many  the 
first  impulse  was  to  destroy  the  newspapers  which  had 
fostered  secession;  and  the  "Democratic  Press"  edited  by 
Beriah  Brown,  the  "Occidental"  edited  by  Zachariah 
Montgomery,  the  "Monitor,"  a  Catholic  weekly,  edited  by 
Thomas  A.  Brady,  and  the  "News  Letter"  edited  by  Fred- 
erick Marriot  had  their  plants  demolished  and  cast  into 
the  street.  Mr.  George  had  been  terribly  wrought  up 
over  the  news  of  the  assassination,  and  talking  about  the 
"copperhead"  newspapers  with  Ike  Trump  and  others,  had 
determined  to  lead  an  assault  upon  the  "News  Letter"; 
but  when  he  reached  the  spot  he  found  Trump  gallantly 
leading  a  party  that  were  hurling  type,  furniture  and 
machinery  into  the  street  with  such  a  spirited  and  lib- 
eral hand  that  little  remained  to  be  done  to  complete 
the  job. 

After  this  physical  venting  of  feeling,  higher  sentiments 
took  possession  of  the  young  printer,  for  next  day  he  sat 
down  in  his  little  Perry  Street  home  and  wrote  out  new 
thoughts  that  were  surging  through  him.  He  put  them 
in  the  form  of  a  newspaper  communication,  which  he  ad- 
dressed to  the  editor  of  the  "Alta  California,"  the  paper 
on  which  he  had  been  setting  type  when  opportunity 
afforded.  When  the  communication  was  finished  he  took 
it  to  the  office  and  slipped  it  into  the  editor's  box.  Next 
day  it  appeared  with  an  editorial  note  preceding  it,  for  the 
editor  had  learned  who  the  writer  was.  Communication 
and  note  appeared  as  follows : 


162  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1865-1866 

[The  following  stirring  article  on  the  great  patricide 
of  the  age  was  written  by  a  printer  in  the  office  of  the 
"Alta  California"]  : 

Sic  Semper  Tyrannis! 

' '  A  man  rushed  to  the  front  of  the  President's  box,  waving  a  long 
dagger  in  his  right  hand,  exclaiming,  '  Sic  semper  tyrannis  ! '  " 

"Alta"  despatches,  April  15. 

"What  a  scene  these  few  words  bring — vivid  as  the 
lightning  flash  that  bore  them !  The  glitter  and  glare, 
curving  circle  and  crowded  pit,  flash  of  jewels  and  glint- 
ing of  silks — and  the  blanched  sea  of  up-turned  faces, 
the  fixed  and  staring  eyes,  the  awful  hush — silence  of 
death ! 

"And  there,  before  all — before  all  mankind  forever- 
more — stands,  for  an  instant,  the  assassin,  poised  for  the 
leap,  the  gleaming  steel  in  his  right  hand,  and  his  cry 
of  triumph,  of  defiance,  ringing  throughout  the  house, 
'Sic  semper  tyrannis!' 

"Is  it  a  wonder  they  are  spellbound !  They  came 
to  laugh  at  a  comedy — and  a  tragedy  is  before  them 
which  will  make  a  nation  weep — and  whose  mighty  im- 
port centuries  may  not  guess !  Their  frightened  eyes 
look  on  a  scene  in  the  grand  drama  whose  first  act  was 
the  creation  and  whose  last  will  be  the  procession  of 
the  white-robed  and  the  shouts  of  the  redeemed.  Well 
may  they  gaze,  awe-stricken,  speechless,  for  the  spirits 
of  the  mighty  dead,  and  generation  after  generation 
that  shall  be,  look  with  them,  and  the  past  that  has 
gone,  and  the  future  that  is  to  come,  join  their  voices  in 
the  shout,  'Sic  semper  tyrannis!' 

"Poised  there  for  an  instant,  that  black,  daring  heart 
— that  spirit  incarnate  of  tyranny  and  wrong — feels  the 
import  of  the  act,  and  with  voice  of  inspiration,  shouts 
its  own  doom — 'Sic  semper  tyrannis!' 

"Amen !  and  thus  it  will  be.  They  have  struck  down 
the  just  because  of  his  justice,  and  the  fate  they  have 
fixed  upon  him  shall  be  theirs ! 


Age,  26-27]  SIC  SEMPER  TYKANNIS  163 

"What  fitting  time !  Good  Friday !  At  this  very 
moment,  before  bare  and  black-draped  altars,  sounds 
the  solemn  wail  of  the  Tenebrae,  and  mournful  music 
bears  the  sorrow  which  shall  burst  into  the  joy  of  the 
resurrection — for,  on  a  day  of  which  this  is  the  anni- 
versary, One  died  that  there  might  be  life,  and  Death 
and  Hell  heard  their  doom.  And  now  (as  close  as 
human  type  may  approach  the  divine)  again  has  Evil 
triumphed,  and  the  blood  of  its  victim  sealed  its  fate. 

"While  the  world  lasts  will  this  scene  be  remembered. 
As  a  martyr  of  Freedom — as  the  representative  of  the 
justice  of  a  great  nation,  the  name  of  the  victim  v,dll 
live  forever;  and  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation, 
signed  with  the  name  and  sealed  with  the  blood  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  will  remain  a  landmark  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  race. 

"In  the  hearts  of  a  people  whose  number  shall  be  as 
the  sands  of  the  sea,  his  memory  will  be  cherished  with 
that  of  Washington.  And  to  the  ends  of  the  earth — 
from  the  frozen  sea  of  the  Xorth  to  the  ice  fields  of  the 
South,  in  every  land  on  which  the  sun  in  his  circuit  shall 
look  down,  whenever  the  standard  shall  be  raised  against 
a  hoary  wrong,  his  name  shall  be  a  watch-word  and  an 
inspiration. 

"And  when,  on  plains  and  uplands  where  now  the 
elephant  and  spring-bok  roam,  farms  shall  be  tilled  and 
homes  arise;  and  on  great  lakes  and  rivers,  now  the 
haunts  of  the  hippopotamus — a  thousand  paddles  shall 
beat,  the  mothers  of  nations  yet  unborn  shall  teach  their 
children  to  call  him  blessed ! 

"Sic  semper  tyrannis!  Blazoned  on  the  shield  of  a 
noble  State  by  the  giants  of  the  young  republic,  their 
degenerate  sons  shall  learn  its  meaning!  The  murder- 
er's shout  as  Lincoln  fell,  it  will  be  taken  up  by  a  million 
voices.  Thus  shall  perish  all  who  wickedly  raise  their 
hands  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  defenders  of  the  oppressed, 
and  who  strive,  by  wickedness  and  cruelty,  to  preserve 
and  perpetuate  wrong.  Their  names  shall  become  a 
hissing  and  a  reproach  among  men  as  long  as  the  past 
shall  be  remembered;  and  the  great  sin  in  whose  sup- 


164  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1865-1866 

port  they  spared  no  crime  is  numbered  henceforth  with 
the  things  that  were.     Sic  semper  tyrannis!     Amen. 

"San  Francisco,  April   16,   1865."^ 

A  few  days  later  the  editor  of  the  "Alta"  engaged  the 
printer  as  a  special  reporter  to  write  in  conjunction  with 
others  a  description  of  the  Lincoln  mourning  decorations 
throughout  the  city,  and  this  was  the  first  newspaper  writ- 
ing for  which  Henry  George  received  pay.  But  he  had 
more  than  a  reporter's  thoughts  in  him;  and  again  he  sat 
down  in  the  parlour  of  his  little  Perry  Street  home  and 
wrote  a  communication  to  the  editor  and  signed  it  with  his 
initials.  It  was  on  the  character  of  Lincoln.  This,  like 
the  former  one,  he  put  in  the  editor's  box.  Next  morn- 
ing he  looked  to  see  if  it  had  been  printed,  and  lo !  like 
Ben  Adhem's  name,  "it  led  all  the  rest."  It  did  not  bear 
his  signature,  nor  was  it  printed  as  a  letter  to  the  editor, 
for  it  had  been  made  the  chief  editorial  of  the  paper.  A 
few  short  extracts  will  suffice : 

"No  common  man,  yet  the  qualities  which  made  him 
great  and  loved  were  eminently  common.     . 

"He  was  not  of  those  whom  God  lifts  to  the  mountain 
tops,  and  who  tell  of  His  truth  to  ears  that  will  not 
hear,  and  show  His  light  to  eyes  that  cannot  see — 
whom  their  o^vn  generation  stone,  and  future  ones  wor- 
ship; but  he  was  of  the  leaders  who  march  close  before 
the  advancing  ranks  of  the  people,  who  direct  their  steps 
and  speak  with  their  voice. 

"...     No   other   system    would   have   produced 

1  This  article  is  copied  from  a  printed  proof  pasted  in  a  scrapbook  kept 
by  Mr.  George  and  containing  his  early  published  writings.  But  since 
the  iile  of  the  regular  issue  of  the  "  Alta  California"  faik  to  reveal  it,  the 
conclusion  is  drawn  that  the  communication  must  have  appeared  in  a 
special  edition  of  that  newspaper. 


Age,  2G-27]  FIRST  EDITORIAL  165 

him;  through  no  crowd  of  courtiers  could  such  a  man 
have  forced  his  way;  his  feet  would  have  slipped  on  the 
carpets  of  palace  stairs,  and  Grand  Chamberlains  or- 
dered him  back !  And,  as  in  our  time  of  need,  the  man 
that  was  needed  came  forth,  let  us  know  that  it  will 
always  be  so,  and  that  under  our  institutions,  when  the 
rights  of  the  people  are  endangered,  from  their  ranks 
will  spring  the  men  for  the  times."^ 


This  experience  led  to  the  "Alta's"  agreement  to  take 
from  Mr.  George  some  news  letters  relative  to  a  Mexican  lib- 
erating expedition  in  which  he  was  about  to  embark.  While 
the  United  States  were  engaged  in  their  civil  war  Napoleon 
III.  had  sent  an  army  into  Mexico  to  establish  an  imperial 
govermnent  and  place  Austrian  Arch-duke  Maximilian  on 
the  throne.  The  resistance  of  the  Mexican  patriots  under 
Juarez  excited  strong  sympathy  through  all  that  part  of 
the  United  States  adjacent  to  Mexico;  and  ardently  de- 
sirous of  striking  a  blow  for  that  republic,  especially  as 
circumstances  had  prevented  him  from  engaging  in  the 
war  in  the  United  States  against  slavery,  Henry  George 
joined  an  expedition  that  was  being  organised  to  help  the 
Juarez  party.  He  talked  it  over  with  his  wife,  with  whom 
now,  after  three  and  a  half  years  of  wedded  life  and  ex- 
treme trials  of  poverty,  he  was  sealed  in  the  closest  pos- 
sible relations  of  confidence  and  affection.  Though  the 
prospect  of  parting  and  the  danger  he  would  run  were  sore 
to  bear,  and  though  the  peril  of  being  left  destitute  with 
two  babies  was  imminent,  she  would  not  withhold  him,  but 
on  the  contrary  did  what  she  always  afterwards  did — en- 
couraged him  to  follow  the  promptings  of  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  his  duty. 

He,  therefore,  arranged  with  the  "Alta  California"  peo- 

1  "Alta  California,"  April  23,  1865. 


166  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  ti865-l86« 

pie  to  send  his  wife  whatever  money  should  come  from  the 
news  letters  that  he  should  write,  which  he  thought  would 
be  sufficient  to  maintain  her;  and  then  with  his  wife, 
took  the  new  baby  to  St.  Patrick's  Catholic  church,  in 
deference  to  her,  and  had  him  baptised  Eichard  Fox,  the 
first  name  after  his  father  and  the  second  in  honour  of 
his  wife's  family.  Then  the  couple  went  back  to  their 
home,  and  kneeling  down  beside  their  babies  prayed  to- 
gether; after  which,  kissing  his  darling  ones  good-bye,  the 
young  man  set  off  for  the  meeting  place.  He  has  de- 
scribed this:^ 

"I  was  to  be  first  lieutenant  in  a  company  com- 
manded by  an  Indian  fighter  named  Burn;  with  an  ac- 
quaintance of  mine,  Barry,  as  major;  and  Hungerford, 
afterwards  father-in-law  of  Mackay,  the  millionaire,  as 
colonel.  We  swore  in  a  good  many  men,  and  went 
down  to  Piatt's  Hall  to  prepare  to  make  a  start  in  a 
vessel  which  should  be  secretly  provided.  We  gathered 
there  in  the  early  evening,  but  hour  after  hour  passed 
without  receiving  the  order  to  start.  Finally,  at  day- 
light next  day  we  were  told  where  the  vessel  was,  but  it 
was  well  on  in  the  morning  before  we  made  for  her. 

"When  we  got  down  we  found  an  old  bark,  the 
Brontes,  to  be  the  one  selected  for  us.  She  was  short 
of  provisions  and  equipment  for  such  a  company.  She 
had  aboard  10,000  American  condemned  rifles,  half  a 
dozen  saddles  and  a  few  casks  of  water.  We  had  hardly 
got  aboard  before  a  revenue  cutter  dropped  anchor  in 
front  of  her  and  blocked  the  way.  This  ended  our  ex- 
pedition. The  Federal  authorities  had  shut  their  eyes 
as  long  as  they  could  to  what  was  going  on,  but  now 
could  do  so  no  longer. 

"Among  those  who  were  going  with  us,  and  who  would 
have  been  little  less  than  a  crowd  of  pirates  if  we  had 
got  down,  were  some  who  got  up  a  scheme  to  seize  a 
French  transport,  and  I  believe,  to  capture  one  of  the 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


Age,  26-271  BRONTES   EXPEDITION  167 

mail  steamers  which  then  left  for  Panama  twice  a  month 
with  shipments  of  gold  from  California  to  New  York. 
This  got  wind  and  some  half  dozen  or  so  were  arrested 
and  put  on  trial  for  intended  piracy. 

"This  was  the  Brontes  expedition,  which  led  to  the 
charge  in  some  San  Francisco  papers  when  I  ran  for 
Mayor  in  New  York  years  afterwards,  that  I  had  been 
engaged  in  a  piratical  expedition.  This  is  the  nearest 
I  ever  came  to  engaging  in  war,  and  I  will  never  forget 
the  willingness  with  which  my  wife,  with  her  two  little 
children,  agreed  to  my  leaving  her  to  go  on  an  expe- 
dition that  I  now  know  could  have  had  no  possible 
good  end." 

A  little  later  Henry  George  helped  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Monroe  League,  which  was  to  send  an  expedition  to 
the  Mexican  patriots,  a  newspaper  man  named  Linthicum 
to  head  it.  They  swore  men  in  on  a  bare  sword  and  the 
republican  flag  of  Mexico,  and  Mrs.  George  was  sworn  as 
the  only  woman  member.  Nothing  came  of  the  League, 
though  its  failure  is  not  explained.^  By  this  time  Mr. 
George  saw  a  good  opening  in  Sacramento  to  set  type  on  a 

1  Nearly  two  years  subsequently  (July  3,  1867)  when  managing  editor 
on  the  San  Francisco  "Times,"  Mr.  George  wrote  in  an  editorial  relative  to 
the  downfall  of  the  Mexican  tyranny  and  the  execution  of  Maximilian: 
' '  We  should  not  allow  either  liis  position  or  his  private  character  to  blind 
our  eyes  to  his  public  crimes.  The  men  who  have  inflicted  the  greatest 
evils  upon  their  kind,  have  not  been  always  the  worst  men  in  their  per- 
sonal relations.  Charles  I.  was  a  good  husband  and  kind  father,  but  he 
was  not  less  the  enemy  of  liberty,  and  his  death  was  not  less  a  salutary 

example That  the  execution  of  Maximilian   will  excite  a  deep 

sensation  in  Europe  cannot  be  doubted,  but  its  efl'ects  will  not  be  entirely 
without  benefit.  It  is  a  protest  against  the  right  of  kings  to  cause  suffer- 
ing and  shed  blood  for  their  own  selfish  ends.  It  is  a  ^dndication  of  justice 
upon  an  offender  of  a  class  whose  rank  has  liitherto  sheltered  them  from 
the  punishment  due  to  their  crimes.  It  will  teach  princes  and  princelings 
to  be  more  cautious  how  they  endeavour  to  subvert  the  liberties  of  a  free 
people." 


168  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1865-1S66 

contract  for  State  official  work,  and  so  he  went  there, 
taking  his  family  with  him  and  settling  down  at  house- 
keeping. Touching  his  personal  matters  he  wrote  to  his 
Sister  Caroline  (December  3)  : 

"I  am,  for  the  present,  only  ambitious  of  working,  and 
will  look  neither  to  the  right  nor  left,  until  I  have  'put 
money  in  my  purse' — something  it  has  never  yet  con- 
tained. I  have  abandoned,  I  hope,  the  hand  to  mouth 
style  of  living,  and  will  endeavour,  if  not  absolutely 
forced  to  do  so,  to  draw  no  drafts  on  the  future.  By 
next  year  we  hope  to  have  enough  money  saved  to  return 
home,  and  will  do  so,  unless  it  should  seem  very  inadvis- 
able. I  will  come,  anyhow,  as  soon  as  I  can,  for  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  it  is  my  duty  to  do  so.  I  am  going  to 
work  on  the  State  work  as  soon  as  it  commences  (this 
week  I  think)  and  expect  to  have  steady  work  for  the 
best  part  of  a  year  and  perhaps  more.  Since  we  came 
up  here  I  have  done  pretty  well — have  made  a  living, 
paid  expenses  of  coming  up,  got  what  was  necessary,  and 
owe  nothing  at  all  here,  and  feel  more  comfortable  and 
hopeful  than  ever  since  we  have  been  married." 


For  nearly  a  year  Henry  George,  following  his  trade  of 
type-setting,  continued  at  State  work.  He  lived  quietly, 
and  since  his  wife  and  he  had  modest  habits,  very  com- 
fortably. He  had  joined  the  Odd  Fellows'  Order  during 
his  former  residence  in  Sacramento,  through  the  advice  of 
his  printer  friend,  A.  A.  Stickney;  and  now  in  1866  he 
joined  the  National  Guard,  though  he  soon  dropped  out 
of  it ;  and  a  literary  organisation,  in  which  for  a  while  he 
engaged  in  discussions  on  public  questions.  One  of  these 
discussions  was  of  great  importance  in  his  life,  since  it 
marks  another  stepping-stone  in  his  thought — his  conver- 
sion from  a  belief  in  the  protective  principle  to  the  opposite 
principle  of  the  entire  freedom  of  trade.     In  "Protection 


Age,  20-27]  BECOMES  A  FEEE  TEADER  169 

or  Free  Trade  ?"  Mr.  George  has  spoken  of  his  strong  pro- 
tection views  at  this  time.^ 

"I  was  for  a  number  of  years  after  I  had  come  of  age 
a  protectionist,  or  rather,  I  supposed  I  was,  for,  without 
real  examination,  I  had  accepted  the  belief,  as  in  the 
first  place  we  all  accept  our  beliefs,  on  the  authority  of 
others.  So  far,  however,  as  I  thought  at  all  on  the  sub- 
ject, I  was  logical,  and  I  well  remember  how  when  the 
Florida  and  Alabama  were  sinking  American  ships  at 
sea,  I  thought  their  depredations,  after  all,  a  good  thing 
for  the  State  in  which  I  lived — California — since  the 
increased  risk  and  cost  of  ocean  carriage  in  American 
ships  (then  the  only  way  of  bringing  goods  from  the 
Eastern  States  to  California)  would  give  to  her  infant 
industries  something  of  that  needed  protection  against 
the  lower  wages  and  better  established  industries  of  the 
Eastern  States  which  the  Federal  Constitution  prevented 
her  from  securing  by  a  State  tariff." 

The  way  in  which  this  belief  was  changed  is  more  fully 
explained  in  another  place  :^ 

"One  night  in  Sacramento  I  went  with  a  friend  to  a 
debating  society  and  there  heard  a  young  fellow  of  great 
ability,  William  H.  Mills,  the  present  Land  Agent  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  deliver  a  speech  in  favour  of 
protection.  I  was  a  protectionist  when  he  began,  but 
when  he  got  through  I  was  a  free  trader.  When  they 
asked  me  what  I  thought  of  it  I  told  them  that  if  what 
he  said  was  true,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  country  that 
Avas  hardest  to  get  at  must  be  the  best  country  to  live  in ; 
and  that,  instead  of  merely  putting  duties  on  things 
brought  from  abroad,  we  ought  to  put  them  on  things 
brought  from  anywhere,  and  that  fires  and  wars  and 
impediments  to  trade  and  navigation  were  the  very  best 
things  to  levy  on  commerce." 

1  Chapter  IV  (Memorial  edition,  p.  29). 
2  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


170  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1865-1866 

Mr.  Mills  says  that  lie  remembers  "with  reasonable  dis- 
tinctness the  incident  referred  to  by  Henry  George" : 

"The  debating  society  was  known  as  the  'Sacramento 
Lyceum.'  The  subject  for  the  evening  was  a  general 
consideration  of  a  national  tariff,  whether  for  revenue 
or  for  protection.  I  was  the  leading  speaker  for  the 
evening  and  took  a  position  in  favour  of  a  protective 
policy  as  that  best  calculated  to  produce  the  broadest 
industrial  skill  of  our  people,  develop  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  country,  give  the  largest  diversity  of  em- 
ployment, confer  the  highest  intelligence,  employ  a 
greater  projDortion  of  our  people  in  skilled  labour  which 
always  receives  the  highest  reward  and  generally  confer 
industrial  and  commercial  independence  upon  the  nation. 

"As  one  of  the  speakers  of  the  evening,  Henry  George 
controverted  the  doctrine  that  nationalism  was  the  goal 
of  civilisation,  pleading  for  a  broad  cosmopolitanism. 
He  contended  that  national  policies  should  interpose  no 
barrier  to  harmonious  relations  between  nations  of  the 
earth ;  that  if  the  doctrine  enunciated  to  sustain  a  policy 
of  high  protection  were  true,  absolute  national  isolation 
would  be  the  condition  best  calculated  to  promote  na- 
tional development;  that  as  relative  evolutionary  forces, 
the  polic}^  of  protection  created  antagonism  between  the 
nations,  isolated  them,  augmented  their  selfishness,  in- 
tensified the  military  spirit,  and  made  standing  armies 
and  vast  navies  necessary  to  the  peace  of  the  world; 
while  free  trade,  as  an  evolutionary  force,  made  nations 
dependent,  promoted  peace  among  them  and  urged  hu- 
manity on  toward  a  higher  plane  of  universal  fraternity. 

"In  conversation  with  Mr.  George  since  then,  he  said 
to  me  that  while  he  went  to  the  Lyceum  meeting  a  pro- 
tectionist, he  left  a  free  trader,  because  protection  was 
defensible  only  upon  the  theory  that  the  separation  of 
mankind  into  nations  implied  their  industrial  and  com- 
mercial antagonism." 

But  while  this  period  marked  what  he  considered  a  great 
step  in  right  thinking,  Henry  George  did  not  neglect  writ- 


Age,  26-27]  HOPES  FOR  ADVANCEMENT  171 

ing.  It  was  now  that  he  wrote  for  Edmund  Wallazz's 
paper,  the  "Philadelphia  Saturday  Night/'  the  account  of 
the  ShubricJc  buriaP  under  the  title  of  "Dust  to  Dust." 
The  sketch  was  republished  by  the  "Californian."  For 
the  latter  publication  he  also  wrote  a  fanciful  sketch  en- 
titled "The  Prayer  of  Kohonah — a  tradition  of  the  north- 
west coast."  Both  of  these,  like  the  Lincoln  article,  gave 
proofs  of  a  vivid  imagination  and  a  high  order  of  descrip- 
tive power,  and  it  is  certain  from  casual  notes  in  his  pocket 
diaries  during  the  next  two  or  three  years  that  he  was 
thinking  of  writing  a  novel;  so  that  perhaps  it  wanted  but 
the  accident  to  have  turned  his  abilities  and  energy  into  the 
realm  of  fiction  instead  of  to  a  search  for  the  eternal  veri- 
ties underlying  social  order. 

But  public  affairs  attracted  and  absorbed  more  and  more 
of  his  attention,  and  he  gave  vent  to  his  sentiments  in  the 
"Daily  Union"  through  the  medium  of  letters  to  the  editor, 
which  he  signed  with  the  nom  de  plume  of  "Proletarian" ; 
and  in  September,  1866,  when  printing  became  slack,  he 
wrote  for  San  Francisco  newspapers  a  number  of  letters 
relative  to  the  State  fair  then  being  held  in  Sacramento. 
Then  his  newspaper  ambition  took  a  leap  forward.  A 
daily  paper  to  be  named  the  "Times"  was  to  be  started  in 
San  Francisco,  and  he  made  application  for  a  writing 
position  upon  it.  A  letter  to  his  father  (August  8)  told 
about  it: 

"When  you  next  write  direct  to  San  Francisco,  for  I 
expect  to  go  down  there  in  about  two  weeks.  The  paper 
that  I  wrote  you  of  is  to  start  there  in  about  that  time. 
I  do  not  know  whether  I  will  get  the  situation  I  asked 
for  as  reporter  or  assistant  editor,  but  I  can  have  a  posi- 
tion in  the  composing  room,  at  any  rate,  with  a  chance 
to  go  in  the  editorial  department  in  a  little  while.     I 

1  Pages  63-67. 


172  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1865-I8ct> 

can  have  steady  work  here  if  I  stay,  but  have  concluded 
to  go  down,  as  I  will  have  a  better  chance  down  there. 
The  foreman  has  given  me  a  case,  which  is  in  itself  de- 
sirable, as  it  will  be  a  good  paper  to  work  on,  and  will 
be  a  steady  thing.  But  even  if  I  do  not  get  a  better 
position  than  that  at  the  start,  I  am  promised  one  shortly 
afterward.  And  if  things  go  as  I  wish  them  to,  I  may 
by  the  first  of  the  year  make  $50  or  $60  a  week.  I  don't 
say  that  I  will,  or  even  that  I  expect  to,  but  I  see  where 
there  is  a  chance.  However,  I  won't  say  anything  about 
it  until  I  see  more  clearly. 

"This  I  hope,  is  our  last  move  until  we  step  on  board 
the  steamer.  Our  desire  to  return  home  increases  daily, 
and  all  my  plans  tend  to  that  object.  I  do  not  think, 
though,  that  we  can  come  till  spring,  but  I  hope  that 
this  delay  will  be  of  benefit,  in  better  enabling  me  to 
come  home  and  to  do  better  when  I  do  come.  I  want,  if 
possible,  to  secure  some  little  practice  and  reputation  as 
a  writer  here  before  going,  which  will  not  only  give  me 
introduction  and  employment  there,  but  help  me  in 
going  and  enable  me  to  make  something  by  correspond- 
ing with  papers  here.  If  I  do  not  overrate  my  abilities 
I  may  yet  make  position  and  money." 

He  was  not  destined  to  go  to  Philadelphia  in  the  follow- 
ing spring,  for  fortune  threw  upon  him  larger  responsi- 
bilities than  he  had  dreamed  of. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

MANAGING    EDITOR    AND   CORRESPONDENT. 

1866-1869.  Age,  27-30. 

THE  San  Francisco  "Times"  was  started  on  November 
5,  1866,  with  Henry  George  in  the  composing  room 
setting  type.  James  McClatchy,  who,  as  editor  of  the  "Sac- 
ramento Bee,"  had  won  a  reputation  as  a  forcible  writer, 
became  editor  of  the  new  paper,  and  it  was  mainly  through 
him  that  George's  hope  of  advancement  lay,  having 
won  McClatchy's  friendship  while  in  Sacramento.  Mc- 
Clatchy, having  a  clear,  sound  mind  himself,  was  liberal 
enough  to  recognise  and  encourage  merit  in  others.  He 
may  be  said  to  have  seen  signs  of  promise  in  the  young 
printer.  At  any  rate,  three  editorial  articles  from  George 
were  accepted  and  published  in  quick  succession.  The 
first,  for  which  he  received  $5,  was  entitled  "To  Constan- 
tinople," and  was  published  eleven  daj^s  after  the  paper 
was  started.  It  treated  of  the  destiny  of  Russia  to  carry 
the  cross  to  the  Bosphorus,  and  there,  overruling  the  Turk, 
to  make  its  seat  of  empire  in  the  city  founded  by  the  great 
Constantino  to  be  the  new  capital  of  the  Roman  world. 
But  after  only  three  weeks'  career  as  editor  of  the  "Times," 
James  McClatchy  disagreed  with  the  paper's  owners,  and 
stepping  out,  returned  to  the  "Sacramento  Bee." 

Noah  Brooks,  who  in  later  years  has  become  best  known 

173 


174  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [18G6-1869 

in  the  East  as  the  author  of  "Washington  in  Lincoln's 
Time,"  tales  of  the  early  California  days,  and  juvenile 
stories,  had  been  chief  editorial  writer.  He  now  became 
editor,  with  William  Bausman  and  N.  S.  Treadwell  as  edi- 
torial writers.  0.  B.  Turrell  was  foreman  of  the  compos- 
ing room  and  was  very  friendly  to  George.  Indeed,  he 
next  to  McClatchy  had  encouraged  the  young  printer  to 
think  of  advancement,  and  now  suggested  that  he  sub- 
mit an  article  to  the  new  editor.  Noah  Brooks  tells  of  his 
side  of  this  transaction: 

"Mr.  Turrell,  the  foreman,  had  come  repeatedly  to  me 
to  recommend  a  young  printer  as  a  writer,  and  I  said 
that  I  would  look  at  some  of  his  work.  Turrell  brought 
an  article  that  was  in  editorial  form  and  written  in  neat, 
regular  and  rather  small  hand,  with  the  lines  far  apart, 
on  buff  sheets  of  paper  such  as  was  used  for  wrapping 
and  sending  the  newspaper  through  the  mails.  I  glanced 
at  the  article  and  then  read  it  somewhat  carefully,  for 
it  showed  a  style  and  largeness  of  thought  that  made  me 
suspect  that  the  young  man  had  been  borrowing.  So  I 
laid  the  matter  aside  for  a  day  or  two  and  meanwhile 
took  a  glance  over  the  current  magazines  and  other 
periodicals,  but  could  find  no  signs  of  appropriation. 
I  spoke  to  the  foreman  and  he  said  that  I  need  have  no 
thought  of  irregularity — that  the  young  man  was  bright 
and  original,  and  that  he  was  entirely  honest  and  would 
not  think  of  offering  another's  thoughts.  So  I  put  the 
article  in  the  paper. 

"Turrell  told  me  where  I  should  find  the  printer  who 
had  written  the  editorial.  That  day  I  passed  through 
the  composing  room  and  saw  a  slight  young  man  at  work 
at  the  case  Turrell  had  named.  He  was  rather  under 
size,  and  stood  on  a  board  to  raise  him  to  the  proper 
height  to  work  at  his  case.  I  was  not  prepossessed  with 
him  and  little  dreamed  that  there  was  a  man  who  would 
one  day  win  great  fame — as  little  dreamed  of  it,  as  no 
doubt,  he  did. 


Age,  27-30]  MANAGING  EDITOR  175 

"I  invited  him  to  write  at  our  regular  editorial  col- 
umn rates,  which  he  did  for  a  while,  continuing  at  the 
same  time  at  his  printer's  case.  Afterwards  I  called 
him  into  the  reportorial  department,  and  then,  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Treadwell,  invited  him  to  hecome  a  regular 
editorial  writer.  Soon  after  this  I  fell  out  with  the 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  paper,  Mr. 
Annis  Merrill,  and  resigned,  taking  Mr.  Bausman  with 
me.  My  quarrel  was  not  Mr.  George's  quarrel,  and  he 
remained,  and  took  charge  of  the  paper." 


As  reporter  of  the  "Times,"  Henry  George  earned  $30 
a  week;  later,  as  editorial  writer,  $35  a  week;  and  as  man- 
aging editor,  from  the  beginning  of  June,  1867,  $50  a 
week.  An  incident  about  this  time  showed  his  great  ten- 
derness for  his  wife.  One  evening  word  was  brought  that 
his  wife,  who  was  expecting  her  third  child,  had  fallen 
down-stairs.  The  husband  ran  most  of  the  way  home. 
The  doctor  feared  consequences.  But  the  medicine  he 
gave  was  effective,  for  the  patient  by  midnight  grew  quiet 
and  fell  asleep.  Her  husband,  half  leaning  on  one  elbow, 
half  bending  over  her,  reclined  beside  her  intently  watch- 
ing, all  his  clothes  on  and  with  hat  in  hand,  ready  at  the 
first  unfavourable  symptom  to  spring  up  and  run  for  the 
physician.  When  the  grey  streaks  of  dawn  came,  four 
hours  afterwards,  the  wife  awoke,  greatly  refreshed,  to  find 
her  husband  with  unchanged  position  and  tense  eyes  re- 
garding her.  When  she  spoke  of  this  he  simply  said  that 
all  had  depended  on  her  sleeping.  The  wife  fully  re- 
covered from  the  shock,  and  the  child,  born  three  months 
later,  came  into  the  world  strong  and  sound  of  body  and 
mind,  and  named  Jennie  Teresa,  after  its  father's  dead 
sister  and  its  mother's  living  sister,  grew  up  into  beautiful 
womanhood. 

Henry  George  became  managing  editor  of  the  "Times" 


176  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [18C6-1869 

in  the  beginning  of  June,  18G7,  under  the  chief -editorship 
of  Dr.  Gunn,  well  known  in  San  Francisco  political  affairs 
in  that  day,  and  who  had  bought  into  the  paper.  George 
retained  the  position  of  managing  editor  until  he  left  the 
paper  on  August  12,  1868.  During  the  interval,  besides 
the  regular  office  work,  he  was  conducting  occasional  cor- 
respondence with  the  Hawaiian  "Gazette"  and  other  news- 
papers, so  that  his  income  was  much  larger  than  ever  be- 
fore in  his  life.  Moreover,  his  work  was  telling,  making 
him  friends  and  extending  his  influence. 

But  more  important  than  anything  else  during  the 
*'Times"  period  was  the  preparation  he  was  going  through 
for  his  life  work.  This  related  to  style  in  writing  and  de- 
velopment in  thinking.  While  his  style  always  had  been 
free  and  natural,  he  had  from  the  beginning  aimed  at  com- 
pactness, and  it  was  to  the  necessity  of  re-writing  news 
articles  and  compressing  them  into  condensed  items  while 
he  was  sub-editor  on  the  "Times,"  that,  when  reviewing 
his  life,  he  said  he  had  obtained  valuable  practice  in  terse 
statement.  The  development  in  thought  was  manifested 
in  editorials  on  the  larger  questions  of  the  day,  such  as 
free  trade,  government  paper  money  and  interconvertible 
bonds  in  place  of  national  bank  notes ;  personal  or  propor- 
tional representation ;  pul)lic  obligations  attached  to  public 
franchises ;  and  the  abolition  of  privilege  in  the  army. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  advance  in  thought 
appeared  in  an  article  entitled  "What  the  Eailroad  Will 
Bring  Us"  in  the  "Overland  Monthly"  in  October,  1868, 
Just  after  Mr.  George  left  the  "Times."  That  San  Fran- 
cisco periodical  was  then  in  its  fourth  number,  having 
started  in  July  of  that  year,  and  was  edited  by  Bret  Harte, 
who,  with  two  of  its  contributors,  Mark  Twain  and  Joa- 
quin Miller,  constituted  "The  Incomparable  Three"  of 
lighter  literature  in   California.     Noah   Brooks  was   one 


Age,  27-30]  FIRST   MAGAZINE  ARTICLE  177 

of  the  assistant  editors  and  numbered  in  the  long  list  of 
bright,  original  writers  who  made  the  pages  of  the  maga- 
zine, like  those  of  the  "Californian"  which  had  preceded 
it,  of  exceptional  brilliance — the  more  undoubted  since 
most  of  the  writers  were  new,  and  all  wrote  anonymously. 
The  "Overland''  as  originally  cast  did  not  last  very  long, 
but  long  enough  to  call  the  world's  attention  to  Bret 
Harte's  "Heathen  Chinee,"  and  other  productions. 
.  "What  the  Kailroad  Will  Bring  Us"  was  a  forecast  of 
the  era  of  California  which  the  operation  of  the  then  al- 
most completed  trans-continental  railroad  would  usher  in 
— adding  enormous  artificial  advantages  to  the  already 
great  natural  advantages  that  San  Francisco  possessed, 
and  laying  foundations  for  her  rapid  rise  to  a  commercial 
and  intellectual  greatness  that  should  not  onty  make  her 
mistress  of  all  the  coasts  washed  by  the  vast  Pacific,  but, 
indeed,  as  to  population,  wealth  and  power,  cause  her  even- 
tually to  overtake  and  surpass  Kew  York  and  London,  and 
make  her  the  greatest  city  in  the  world.  But,  as  if  revert- 
ing to  the  question  that  had  arisen  in  his  mind  years  be- 
fore when,  sitting  in  the  theatre  gallery,  he  saw  the  advent 
of  the  railroad  pictured  on  the  new  drop  curtain^ — the 
author  asked,  would  California,  with  her  great  population 
and  wealth,  and  culture,  and  power,  have  so  even  a  distri- 
bution of  wealth  as  in  her  earlier,  pioneer  days?  Would 
she  show  so  much  general  comfort  and  so  little  squalor 
and  misery?  Would  there  then  be  so  large  a  proportion 
of  full,  true  men? 

"Amid  all  our  rejoicing  and  all  our  gratulation  let 
us  see  clearly  whither  we  are  tending.  Increase  in 
population  and  wealth  past  a  certain  point  means  simply 
an  approximation  to  the  condition  of  older  countries — 

.  1  Page  100. 


178  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  (1866-I86& 

the  Eastern  States  and  Europe.  Would  the  average 
Californian  prefer  to  'take  his  chances'  in  jSTew  York 
or  Massachusetts,  or  in  California  as  it  is  and  has  been  ? 
Is  England,  with  her  population  of  twenty  millions  to 
an  area  of  not  more  than  one-third  that  of  our  State, 
and  a  wealth  which  per  inhabitant  is  six  or  seven  times 
that  of  California,  a  better  country  than  California  to 
live  in?  Probably,  if  one  were  born  a  duke  or  factory 
lord,  or  to  any  place  among  the  upper  ten  thousand ;  but 
if  one  were  born  among  the  lower  millions — how  then? 

"For  years  the  high  rate  of  interest  and  the  high  rate 
of  wages  prevailing  in  California  have  been  special  sub- 
jects for  the  lamentations  of  a  certain  school  of  local 
political  economists,  who  could  not  see  that  high  wages 
and  high  interest  were  indications  that  the  natural 
wealth  of  the  country  was  not  yet  monopolised,  that 
great  opportunities  were  open  to  all — who  did  not  know 
that  these  were  evidences  of  social  health,  and  that  it 
were  as  wise  to  lament  them  as  for  the  maiden  to  wish  to 
exchange  the  natural  bloom  on  her  cheek  for  the  inter- 
esting pallor  of  the  invalid. 

"But  however  this  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  tendency 
of  the  new  era — of  the  more  dense  population  and  more 
thorough  development  of  the  wealth  of  the  State — will 
be  to  a  reduction  both  of  the  rate  of  interest  and  the 
rate  of  wages,  particularly  the  latter.  This  tendency 
may  not,  probably  will  not,  1)e  shown  immediately;  but 
it  will  be  before  long,  and  that  powerfully,  unless  bal- 
anced and  counteracted  by  other  influences  which  we  are 
not  now  considering,  which  do  not  yet  appear,  and  which 
it  is  probable  will  not  appear  for  some  time  yet. 

"The  truth  is,  that  the  completion  of  the  railroad  and 
the  consequent  great  increase  of  business  and  population, 
will  not  be  a  benefit  to  all  of  us,  but  only  to  a  portion. 
As  a  general  rule  (liable  of  course  to  exceptions)  those 
who  have,  it  will  make  wealthier;  for  those  who  have  not, 
it  will  make  it  more  difficult  to  get.  Those  who  have 
lands,  mines,  established  businesses,  special  abilities  of 
certain  kinds,  will  become  richer  for  it  and  find  in- 
creased opportunities;  those  who  have  only  their  own 


Age.  27-30]  SEES   FIRST   PRINCIPLES  179 

labour  will  become  poorer,  and  find  it  harder  to  get 
ahead — first  because  it  will  take  more  capital  to  buy 
land  or  to  get  into  business ;  and  second,  because  as  com- 
petition reduces  the  wages  of  labour,  this  capital  will  be 
harder  for  them  to  obtain.     .     .     . 

"And  as  California  becomes  populous  and  rich,  let  us 
not  forget  that  the  character  of  a  people  counts  for  more 
than  their  numbers;  that  the  distribution  of  wealth  is 
even  a  more  important  matter  than  its  production.  Let 
us  not  imagine  ourselves  in  a  fool's  paradise,  where  the 
golden  apples  will  drop  into  our  mouths ;  let  us  not  think 
that  after  the  stormy  seas  and  head  gales  of  all  the  ages, 
our  ship  has  at  last  struck  the  trade  winds  of  time.  The 
future  of  our  State,  of  our  nation,  of  our  race,  looks  fair 
and  bright ;  perhaps  the  future  looked  so  to  the  philoso- 
ophers  who  once  sat  in  the  porches  of  Athens — to  the 
unremembered  men  who  raised  the  cities  whose  ruins 
lie  south  of  us.  Our  modern  civilisation  strikes  broad 
and  deep  and  looks  high.  So  did  the  tower  which  men 
once  built  almost  unto  heaven." 

For  this  "Overland"  article,  seven  thousand  words  in 
length,  Henry  George  received  $40.  To  many  who  have 
knowledge  of  California's  progress  during  the  past  three 
decades  a  remarkable  feature  about  the  article  is  the  pro- 
phecy of  hard  social  conditions  which  have  since  enveloped 
the  masses  and  checked — and  almost  stopped — the  State's 
growth.  But  to  others  its  political  economy  is  a  still  more 
remarkable  feature.  For  though  there  is  in  the  article 
what  he  subsequently  may  have  called  a  confusion  of 
what  is  rent  with  what  is  interest,  there  is  in  the  tracing  of 
high  wages  and  high  interest  in  California  to  the  fact  that 
the  "natural  wealth  of  the  country  was  not  yet  monopo- 
lised— that  great  opportunities  were  open  to  all" — a  dis- 
tinct foreshadowing  of  that  formulation  of  the  laws  of 
wages  and  interest  which  ten  years  later,  in  "Progress  and 
Poverty,"  he  put  in  these  terms — that  "wages  depend  upon 


180  LIFE   OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [186&-1869 

the  margin  of  production,  or  upon  the  produce  which 
labour  can  obtain  at  the  highest  point  of  natural  product- 
iveness open  to  it  without  the  payment  of  rent";  and  that 
"the  relation  between  wages  and  interest  is  determined  by 
the  average  power  of  increase  which  attaches  to  capital 
from  its  use  in  reproductive  modes — as  rent  rises,  interest 
will  fall  as  wages  fall,  or  will  be  determined  by  the  margin 
of  cultivation." 

In  August,  1868,  Henry  George  left  the  "Times."  He 
had  asked  for  an  increase  in  salary.  This  not  being 
granted,  he  withdrew,  though  on  good  terms  with  and  at 
the  convenience  of  the  management.  While  continuing  to 
send  remittances  home,  he  had  been  able  by  economy  dur- 
ing the  stretch  of  prosperity  to  save  a  little  money  and  to 
open  a  bank  account.  He  now  resolved  to  carry  out  the 
long-cherished  plan  of  going  to  Philadelphia,  and  he  sent 
his  family  East  under  escort  of  his  brother,  John  Vallanee 
George,  who  had  come  to  California  three  months  before — 
Henry  George  intending  himself  to  follow  as  soon  as  op- 
portunity permitted. 

Just  then  Mr.  George  was  invited  by  Charles  De Young 
to  help  him  develop  a  morning  newspaper  from  the  "Dra- 
matic Chronicle."  He  was  engaged  to  be  managing  editor, 
and  at  his  suggestion,  DeYoung  made  John  Timmins  fore- 
man— the  same  John  Timmins  who  was  foreman  in  the 
Sacramento  "Union"  office  in  1864  and  had  discharged 
George.  But  Mr.  George's  connection  with  the  "Chron- 
icle" lasted  only  a  few  weeks,  as  he  disliked  DeYoung's 
policy. 

The  success  of  the  San  Francisco  "Times"  in  breaking 
into  the  press  telegraph  monopoly  had  encouraged  the 
starting  of  other  papers,  of  which  the  "Chronicle"  was  one 
and  the  San  Francisco  "Herald"  another.  There  were 
not  many  important  Democratic  papers  in  the  State  and 


Age,  27-30]  SAN  FRANCISCO  "HERALD"  181 

John  Nugent's  idea  was  to  establish  a  good  one  by  reviving 
the  San  Francisco  "Herald,"  and  he  engaged  Henry 
George  to  go  to  New  York  and  try  to  get  the  paper  ad- 
mitted to  the  Associated  Press,  or  if  that  should  be  refused, 
to  establish  there  a  special  news  service  for  the  paper. 
Charged  with  this  commission,  the  young  man  about  the 
beginning  of  December  started  East  on  the  overland  and 
stage  route. 

"It  was  just  before  the  completion  of  the  transconti- 
nental railroad,  and  I  crossed  the  plains  in  a  four-horse 
'mud  wagon.'  I  spent  many  nights  sitting  at  the 
driver's  side,  and  I  was  all  the  more  impressed,  therefore, 
when  we  reached  the  railroad  and  got  a  sleeping-car. 
We  had  to  sleep  two  in  a  berth,  however."^ 

He  went  first  to  his  old  home  in  Philadelphia  where  he 
found  father  and  mother,  sisters  and  brothers,  as  well  as 
wife  and  children  eager  to  welcome  him.  After  a  short 
season  there,  he  engaged  John  Hasson,  one  of  his  boyhood 
friends,  to  go  in  with  him,  and  then  went  to  New  York  and 
made  formal  application  for  access  of  the  San  Francisco 
"Herald"  to  the  Associated  Press  news  service.  Writing 
early  in  January  (1869)  to  Charles  A.  Sumner,  managing 
editor  of  the  paper,  he  said : 

"Nobody  received  me  with  open  arms,  unless  I  except 
the  Peter  Funks.  I  have  made  no  acquaintances  be- 
yond those  necessary  for  my  purpose  and  not  yet  de- 
livered any  letters  except  business  ones.  The  newspaper 
offices  here  are  like  big  manufactories  and  they  don't 
seem  to  be  in  the  habit  of  asking  strangers  to  take  seats 
and  look  over  the  exchanges.  The  bosses  come  down  for 
a  few  hours  occasionally ;  the  managing  editors  get  down 
about  twelve  and  leave  about  four  or  five  in  the  after- 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


182  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [186G-1869 

noon;  and  I  don't  think  the  smaller  guns  begin  to  work 
as  hard  as  those  on  the  Pacific  Coast." 


Before  the  "Herald"  business  had  advanced  far,  the  ac- 
tive and  courageous  spirit  of  the  young  man  manifested 
itself  by  a  signed  letter  in  the  "New  York  Tribune"  (March 
5)  attacking  two  of  the  great  corporations  in  California — 
the  Central  Pacific  Kailroad  and  the  Wells,  Fargo  Express, 
the  former  for  its  excessive  charges ;  the  latter  for  reckless 
treatment  of  the  newspaper  mails  in  the  stage-coach  inter- 
vals on  the  plains  between  the  yet  incompleted  Union 
Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  lines.  As  to  the  Central 
Pacific  Eailroad  he  said: 

"So  far  as  cheapening  the  cost  of  transportation  is 
concerned,  the  Pacific  Eailroad  has,  as  yet,  been  of  no 
advantage  to  the  people  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  who  have  to 
pay  just  as  much  as,  and  in  some  cases  more  than,  when 
they  relied  on  horse  or  ox  flesh.  There  would  be  some 
excuse  for  this,  if  the  road  had  been  constructed  by  pri- 
vate means;  but  it  has  been,  and  is  being,  built  literally 
and  absolutely  by  the  money  of  the  people,  receiving 
liberal  aid  from  cities,  counties  and  State  of  California, 
as  well  as  the  immense  gratuity  of  the  general  govern- 
ment. 

"But  minor  grievances  sink  into  insignificance  when 
the  enormous  political  power  which  these  great  Pacific 
Eailroad  corporations  can  wield  is  considered.  The 
Central  Pacific  can  dictate  to  California,  Nevada  and 
Utah,  and  the  Union  Pacific  to  the  States  and  Terri- 
tories through  which  it  passes  more  completely  than  the 
Camden  and  Amboy  dictated  to  New  Jersey,  and  each  or 
both  will  be  able  to  exert  an  almost  irresistible  pressure 
upon  Congress  in  any  manner  in  which  their  interests 
are  involved.  I  don't  know  about  the  Union  Pacific, 
but  the  Central  already  influences  conventions,  manages 
Legislatures,  and  has  its  representatives  in  both  Houses  at 
Washington.     And  it  is  already  buying  up  other  corpor- 


Age,  27-30]  ASSOCIATED   PRESS  WAR  183 

ations,  and  bids  fair  to  own  the  whole  railroad  system  of 
the  Pacific.     .     .     /' 


But  returning  to  the  San  Francisco  ''Herald/'  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Associated  Press,  after  many  vexatious 
delays,  refused  its  service  to  that  paper,  and  an  independ- 
ent service  had  to  be  made  up.  Concliiding  that  Phila- 
delphia would  suit  their  purpose  better  than  ISTew  York, 
Henry  George  and  John  Hasson  opened  their  press  bureau 
in  a  little  coal  office  occupied  at  the  time  by  Henry  George's 
father,  on  Third  Street,  almost  opposite  St.  Paul's  church 
Here  they  collected  by  wire  from  various  sources  their 
news,  and  dressing  it  to  fit  their  California  requirements, 
putting  as  much  as  possible  in  a  prearranged  cipher,  to 
save  expense,  telegraphed  it  by  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany, which  controlled  the  only  route  to  San  Francisco,  at 
a  rate  fixed  by  a  clear  agreement  and  based  upon  a  schedule 
adopted  before  any  news  war  was  in  sight.  In  exchange 
for  the  full  credit,  access  was  given  to  the  "New  York  Her- 
ald's" special  despatches,  and  in  this  and  other  ways  a  good 
news  service  was  supplied;  so  much  better,  indeed,  than 
that  which  the  Associated  Press  papers  in  California  re- 
ceived that  they  nuxde  a  great  commotion  inside  the  asso- 
ciation, and  that  body  urged  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  to  interfere.  The  latter  hesitated  to  do  so  di- 
rectly, but  on  the  ground  of  interference  with  the  rules, 
refused  to  allow  the  use  of  the  cipher  code  or  to  receive  the 
service  from  Philadelphia ;  and  then  finding  that  the  agent 
of  the  California  paper  at  once  moved  to  Xew  York  and 
continued  the  service,  the  company  took  summary  action 
by  giving  short  notice  of  a  new  schedule  of  rates,  which 
in  effect  increased  the  San  Francisco  "Herald's"  charges, 
while  it  reduced  those  of  the  Association.  The  "Herald's" 
agent  vigorously  protested  and  was  invited  to  call  upon 


184  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1866-1869 

Vice-President  McAlpine  of  the  "Western  Union.  In  a 
letter  of  April  21,  to  John  Nugent,  the  San  Francisco 
"Herald's"  owner,  Henry  George  recounts  what  occurred: 

"I  saw  him  accordingly,  but  was  informed  by  him  that 
the  contract  had  already  been  signed  by  at  least  the  San 
Francisco  papers  [in  the  x\ssociated  Press]  and  that  the 
thing  was  past  remedy.  I  nevertheless  protested  with 
all  my  force,  minced  no  words,  but  denounced  the  whole 
thing  as  a  most  outrageous  breach  of  faith  which  had 
been  procured  by  the  underhand  workings  of  a  ring. 
I  told  him  in  very  plain  terms  what  I  thought  of  his 
company  and  how  this  operation  would  appear  to  the 
public;  that  it  was  meant  to  crush  the  'Herald'  and 
would  crush  the  'Herald';  was  meant  to  prevent  any 
future  opposition  to  the  Associated  Press  and  would  do 
so  until  a  new  line  was  built;  that  they  had  virtually 
agreed  to  give  a  monopoly  of  the  news  business  to  the 
Association  for  $40,000  a  year — less  than  they  were  now 
getting;  that  I  could  not  say  what  you  would  do,  but 
that  if  it  was  my  paper  I  would  issue  my  last  number 
on  the  1st  of  May,  declare  that  it  was  killed  by  the  Wes- 
tern Union  Telegraph  Company,  who  had  sold  a  monop- 
oly to  the  other  papers,  fill  it  with  the  history  of  the 
whole  transaction  and  print  an  immense  edition,  which 
I  would  circulate  all  over  the  Union. 

"He  appeared  much  moved  by  what  I  said,  declared 
that  there  was  great  force  in  it,  but  that  he  did  not  see 
what  could  be  done;  that  he  had  opposed  this  thing 
from  the  beginning;  that  he  had  been  overruled;  and 
that  though  he  was  sorry  for  it,  there  was  no  use  of  pro- 
testing or  appealing. 

"Afterwards  I  made  a  written  request  to  be  heard 
before  a  full  executive  board.  Pondering  over  the 
matter,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  case  was  very 
desperate,  that  the  only  hope  of  inducing  them  to  go 
back  was  by  appealing  to  their  sense  of  shame  and  dis- 
like of  being  stigmatised  as  a  monopoly;  that  nothing 
could  be  hoped  from  their  favour;  and  that  it  was  use- 
less to  mince  words.     I,  therefore,  abandoned  my  pur- 


Age,  27-30]  AGGRESSIVE  TACTICS  185 

pose  of  making  a  verbal  protest,  and  during  that  night 
wrote  out  a  lengthy  protest  with  the  idea  of  printing  it 
if  my  other  efforts  seemed  ineffectual;  and  that  if  the 
instructions  I  expected  immediately  from  you  did  not 
direct  another  course. 

"By  one  next  day  (Wednesday)  I  got  several  copies 
and  sent  them  in,  calling  upon  Mr.  Mc Alpine  about  2.30 
P.M.  .  .  .  He  was  anxious  for  me  to  see  President 
Orton.  ...  I  got  an  interview  with  Mr.  Orton  this 
morning,  who  read  the  protest  in  my  presence  and 
seemed  unable  to  say  anything  in  justification.  .  .  . 
He  did  not  seem  disposed  to  defend  it,  but  said  that  he 
was  sick  of  the  whole  matter;  that  the  Associated  Press 
had  been  urging  this  for  a  long  time,  and  had  been 
growing  ugly,  threatening  to  stop  their  arrange- 
ment." 

But  John  Nugent  at  this  crisis  was  as  silent  as  the 
grave  and  gave  no  instructions.  Indeed,  he  cannot  be  said 
to  have  given  any  instructions  at  any  time  since  his  paper 
started,  except  to  get  the  news  as  cheaply  as  possible.  The 
New  York  agent  was  left  to  act  entirely  upon  his  own  re- 
sponsibility. And  it  might  have  been  supposed  that  hav- 
ing done  all  that  was  possible  for  his  paper,  he  would  con- 
sult self-interest  and  avoid  aggressiveness,  for  otherwise 
he  ran  the  risk  of  embittering  all  the  papers  in  the  Cali- 
fornia Associated  Press  against  him  and  of  winning  the 
active  and  lasting  hostility  of  the  great  telegraph  company. 
But  what  he  had  in  mind  could  be  realised  only  by  aggres- 
sive action.  He  wished  to  make  the  subject  of  telegraph 
service  a  political  question.  In  other  words,  this  unknown 
newspaper  correspondent  from  the  far  Pacific  Coast,  un- 
backed by  even  his  own  struggling  little  newspaper,  had 
chosen,  like  David,  to  go  out  and  contend  with  the  gigantic 
telegraph  Goliath.  What  added  to  the  daring  of  the  per- 
formance was  that  the  Associated  Press  people  were  circu- 
lating the  report  that  the  San  Francisco  "Herald"  was  on 


186  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1866-1869 

its  last  legs,  which  the  silence  to  his  private  despatches 
seemed  to  confirm.  But  counting  costs  no  more  now  than 
when  two  months  before  he  had  in  the  "New  York  Tri- 
bune" openly  attacked  the  California  railroad  and  express 
corporations,  he  held  to  his  resolution  to  strike  publicly  at 
the  Western  Union.  He  sent  his  printed  protest  out  to 
such  of  the  newspapers  in  New  York  and  other  cities  in  the 
East  as  he  thought  would  notice  it,  and  also  to  Senator 
Sprague  of  Ehode  Island  with  a  letter,  because  of  his  anti- 
monopoly  views;  and  to  the  California  representatives  in 
Congress — at  the  same  time  writing  to  his  friend  Sumner, 
the  managing  editor  of  the  San  Francisco  "Herald" : 
*'You  will  hear  thunder  all  around  the  sky  notwithstand- 
ing the  influence  of  the  Western  Union  and  the  Associated 
Press." 

The  "New  York  Herald"  was  about  the  only  newspaper 
of  influence  that  published  the  protest,  and  whether  or  not 
the  Western  Union  directors  cared  about  it,  the  axe  fell, 
and  the  San  Francisco  "Herald's"  telegraph  news  service, 
so  long  as  that  paper  could  continue  to  struggle  on,  had  to 
be  reduced  to  a  mere  skeleton. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  John  Nugent  had  been  slow 
to  make  remittances,  and  now  nearly  a  thousand  dollars 
was  due  in  New  York  on  salaries  and  rent  and  other  bills. 
Confident  that  he  could  be  of  no  further  use  to  the  paper 
there,  and  leaving  John  Hasson  as  New  York  agent,  Henry 
George  went  to  Philadelphia,  took  leave  of  his  family  and 
relatives,  and  on  May  20  started  west  over  the  Erie  rail- 
road for  California.  Under  a  contract  through  John  Rus- 
sell Young,  its  managing  editor,  he  wrote  several  letters 
for  the  "New  York  Tribune,"  descriptive  of  the  new  trans- 
continental railroad,  and  the  country  through  which  the 
road  passed.  But  though  paid  for,  none  of  these  articles 
were  published,  for  John  Eussell  Young  left  the  paper  soon 


Age,  27-30]  RETURNS  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO  187 

after  Mr.  George  had  left  New  York,  and  Whitelaw  Eeid, 
succeeding  as  managing  editor,  not  only  withheld  them, 
but  annulled  the  contract,  to  which  Mr.  George,  not  wish- 
ing to  put  Mr.  Young  at  the  slightest  disadvantage  for  his 
act  of  friendship,  made  no  further  objection  than  a  mild 
and  formal  dissent. 


SECOND  PERIOD 
FORMULATION  OF  THE  PHILOSOPHY 


One  sole  God ; 

One  sole  ruler — his  Law  ; 

One  sole  interpreter  of  that  law — Humanity. 


-Mazzini 


CHAPTEE  I. 
COMMENCES    THE    GKEAT    INQUIEY. 
1869.  Age,  30. 

IT  is  said  that  what  put  the  iron  into  Abraham  Lincoln's 
soul  against  chattel  slavery  was  an  auction  sale  of 
negroes — men,  women  and  children,  husbands  and  wives, 
parents  and  infants — which  he  witnessed  while  a  young 
man  at  New  Orleans,  to  which  place  he  had  gone  down  the 
Mississippi  on  a  flat  boat. 

Likewise,  what  put  the  iron  into  Henry  George's  soul 
against  industrial  slavery  was  the  contrast  of  poverty  with 
wealth  that  he  witnessed  in  the  greatest  city  in  the  new 
world,  when  on  the  visit  to  New  York  in  the  winter  of 
1868-69.  Apparently  fully  occupied  with  the  difficulties 
of  establishing  a  telegraphic  news  service  for  the  western 
newspaper,  there  were  in  reality  pauses  when  the  mind, 
swinging  clear  of  all  personal  affairs,  leaped  into  the  realm 
of  problems  that  beset  mankind.  For  in  the  idle  hours, 
when  another  might  have  sought  amusement,  this  young 
man,  as  by  a  kind  of  fascination,  walked  the  streets  of  the 
great  city,  thinking  how  here,  at  the  centre  of  civilisation, 
should  be  realised  the  dream  of  the  pioneer — the  hard  con- 
ditions of  life  softened,  and  society,  preserving  the  gen- 
eral relations  of  equality,  raised  as  a  mass  from  the  bottom 
into  a  state  of  peace  and  plenty.     How  different  the  view 

191 


192  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869 

that  met  his  gaze !  On  every  hand  he  beheld  evidences 
of  advanced  and  advancing  civilisation,  but  of  a  civilisa- 
tion that  was  one-sided;  that  piled  up  riches  for  the  few 
and  huddled  the  many  in  filth  and  poverty.  And  just  as 
in  assailing  the  great  telegraph  and  press  monopolies  he 
did  not  wait  to  be  supported,  but  boldly  and  alone  stepped 
forth  to  the  contest,  so  now  this  unknown  man,  not  yet 
quite  thirty,  of  small  schooling  and  scarcely  tried  abilities, 
whose  past  had  led  through  poverty  and  adversity,  and 
whose  future  was  shrouded  in  uncertainty,  audaciously  re- 
fused to  accept  the  edict  of  the  House  of  Have — ^the  edict 
sanctioned  by  the  teachers  of  learning  and  preachers  of 
religion,  that  all  this  want  and  suffering  was  in  the  nature 
of  things  and  unalterable.  His  heart  and  mind  denied  it. 
Everywhere  else  in  creation  was  order,  design.  Could  they 
fail  on  reaching  man,  "the  roof  and  crown  of  things?" 
He  could  not  believe  it.  Silently,  without  telling  any  man 
of  what  he  did,  he  set  himself  the  task  of  finding  the 
natural  order.  In  his  speech  of  acceptance  of  the  first 
New  York  mayoralty  nomination  seventeen  years  after- 
guards he  said : 

"Years  ago  I  came  to  this  city  from  the  West, 
unknown,  knowing  nobody,  and  I  saw  and  recognised 
for  the  first  time  the  shocking  contrast  between  mon- 
strous wealth  and  debasing  want.  And  here  I  made  a 
vow  from  which  I  have  never  faltered,  to  seek  out,  and 
remedy,  if  I  could,  the  cause  that  condemned  little  chil- 
dren to  lead  such  a  life  as  you  know  them  to  lead  in  the 
squalid  districts."^ 

This  was  not  a  vague  resolution  without  backing  of 
thought.     It  was  rather  a  sudden  crystallisation  of  pro- 

1  Also  see  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  Conclusion  ;  and  "The  Science  of 
Political  Economy,"  Book  II,  Chap,  viii,  p.  201. 


Age.  30]  A  DAYLIGHT   VISION  193 

tracted  meditations;  a  flashing  conviction  and  passionate 
resolve.  For  him  all  at  once  the  bush  burned,  and  the 
voice  spake:  ''The  people  suffer;  who  will  lead  them 
forth?"  In  a  letter  to  Kev.  Thomas  Dawson  of  Glencree, 
Ireland  (February  1,  1883),  he  wrote: 

"Because  you  are  not  only  my  friend,  but  a  priest 
and  a  religious,  I  shall  say  something  that  I  don't  like 
to  speak  of — that  I  never  before  have  told  any  one. 
Once,  in  daylight,  and  in  a  city  street,  there  came  to 
me  a  thought,  a  vision,  a  call — give  it  what  name  you 
please.     But  every  nerve  quivered.     And  there  and  then 

1  made  a  vow.  Through  evil  and  through  good,  what- 
ever I  have  done  and  whatever  I  have  left  undone,  to 
that  I  have  been  true." 

Now  while  the  young  philosopher's  mind  was  to  work 
gradually  towards  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  deepening 
poverty  in  the  midst  of  advancing  wealth,  he  did  some- 
thing in  the  East  in  the  early  part  of  1869  that  attracted 
more  attention  than  anything  he  had  before  accomplished. 
As  he  has  said  in  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  ^ 
"John  Russell  Young  was  at  that  time  managing  editor  of 
the  'New  York  Tribune,'  and  I  wrote  for  him  an  article  on 
'The  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  Coast,'  a  question  that  had 
begun  to  arouse  attention  there;  taking  the  sid'e  popular 
among  the  working  classes  of  the  Coast,  in  opposition  to 
the  unrestricted  immigration  of  that  people."  The  article 
appeared  on  May  1,  filled  several  columns  of  the  "Tribune," 
and  was  signed.^ 

The  immigation  of  the  Chinese  in  considerable  numbers 

IBook  II,  Chap,  viii,  p.  200. 

2  Horace  Greeley  was  the  editor-in-chief  of  the  "Tribune,"  and  in  the 
same  issue  with  Henry  George's  Chinese  article  appeared  the  first  instal- 
ment of  Greeley's  essays  on  political  economy. 


194  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869 

commenced  soon  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California. 
They  spread  over  the  Pacific  Coast  and  crept  into  many  of 
the  more  common  fields  of  labour,  soon  incurring  general 
and  active  opposition,  being  regarded  as  an  alien  and  non- 
assimilable race.  In  this  "Tribune"  article,  Mr.  George 
explained  and  justified  this  hostile  feeling — the  first  time, 
probably,  that  such  views  were  published  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast.     The  kernel  of  his  presentation  was  this: 

"The  population  of  our  country  has  been  drawn  from 
many  different  sources ;  but  hitherto,  with  but  one  excep- 
tion, these  accessions  have  been  of  the  same  race,  and 
though  widely  differing  in  language,  customs  and  na- 
tional characteristics,  have  been  capable  of  being  welded 
into  a  homogeneous  people.  The  mongolians,  who  are 
now  coming  among  us  on  the  other  side  of  the  conti- 
nent, differ  from  our  race  by  as  strongly  marked  char- 
acteristics as  do  the  negroes,  while  they  will  not  as 
readily  fall  into  our  ways  as  the  negroes.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  two  races  in  this  respect  is  as  the 
difference  between  an  ignorant  but  docile  child,  and  a 
grown  man,  sharp  but  narrow  minded,  opinionated  and 
set  in  character.  The  negro  when  brought  to  this  coun- 
try was  a  simple  barbarian  with  nothing  to  unlearn; 
the  Chinese  have  a  civilisation  and  history  of  their  own, 
a  vanity  which  causes  them  to  look  down  on  all  other 
races,  habits  of  thought  rendered  permanent  by  being 
stamped  upon  countless  generations.  From  present  ap- 
pearances we  shall  have  a  permanent  Chinese  population ; 
but  a  population  whose  individual  components  will  be 
constantly  changing,  at  least  for  a  long  time  to  come — a 
population  born  in  China,  reared  in  China,  expecting  to 
return  to  China,  living  while  here  in  a  little  China  of  its 
own,  and  without  the  slightest  attachment  to  the  coun- 
try— utter  heathens,  treacherous,  sensual,  cowardly  and 
cruel.  They  bring  no  women  with  them  (and  probably 
will  not  for  a  little  while  yet).     .     .     . 

"Their  moral  standard  is  as  low  as  their  standard  of 
comfort,  and  though  honest  in  the  payment  of  debts 


Age,  30]  ANTI-CHINESE  AETICLE  195 

to  each  other,  lying,  stealing  and  false  swearing  are 
with  the  Chinamen  venial  sins — if  sins  at  all.  They 
practise  all  the  imnamable  vices  of  the  East,  and  are 
as  cruel  as  they  are  cowardly.  Infanticide  is  common 
among  them;  so  is  abduction  and  assassination.  Their 
bravos  may  be  hired  to  take  life  for  a  sum  proportionate 
to  the  risk,  to  be  paid  to  their  relatives  in  case  of 
death.  In  person  the  Chinese  are  generally  apparently 
cleanly,  but  filthy  in  their  habits.  Their  quarters  reek 
with  noisesome  odours,  and  are  fit  breeding-places  for 
pestilence.  They  have  a  great  capacity  for  secret  or- 
ganisations, forming  a  State  within  a  State,  governed 
by  their  own  laws ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  our 
courts  are  frequently  used  by  them  to  punish  their  own 
countrymen,  though  more  summary  methods  are  often- 
times resorted  to.  The  administration  of  justice  among 
them  is  attended  with  great  difficulty.  jSTo  plan  for 
making  them  tell  the  truth  seems  to  be  effective.  That 
of  compelling  them  to  behead  a  cock  and  burn  yellow 
paper  is  generally  resorted  to  in  the  courts. 

"The  Chinese  seem  to  be  incapable  of  understanding 
our  religion;  but  still  less  are  they  capable  of  under- 
standing our  political  institutions.  To  confer  the  fran- 
chise upon  them  would  be  to  put  the  balance  of  power 
on  the  Pacific  in  the  hands  of  a  people  who  have  no 
conception  of  the  trust  involved,  and  who  would  have 
no  wish  to  use  it  rightly,  if  they  had — would  be  to  give 
so  many  additional  votes  to  employers  of  Chinese,  or 
put  them  up  for  sale  by  the  Chinese  head  centres  in 
San  Francisco." 

Almost  twenty-five  years  later  (November  30,  1893),  in 
a  letter  to  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  younger,  Henry 
George  spoke  of  the  "Tribune"  article  as  "crude,"  inso- 
much as  he  "had  not  then  come  to  clear  economic  views." 
He  referred  to  his  exposition  of  the  wages  question,  which 
he  was  led  to  discuss  by  the  contention  of  the  great  Cali- 
fornia railroad  corporation  and  other  large  employers  of 
Chinese  labour  that  such  employment  inured  to  the  benefit 


196  LIFE   OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869 

of  other  labourers  by  liberating  the  latter  for  engagement 
in  other  fields  of  industr}^,  at  the  same  time  cheapening  the 
cost  of  production  in  the  primary  fields  that  they  had  left 
and  thereby  cheapening  all  those  primary  commodities 
that  all  must  buy.  "Wishing  to  know  what  political 
economy  had  to  say  about  the  causes  of  wages,"  he  wrote 
in  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy"  ^  relative  to  this 
point :  "I  went  to  the  Philadelphia  Library,  looked  over 
John  Stuart  Mill's  'Political  Economy/  and  accepting  his 
views  without  question,  based  my  article  upon  it."  In  a 
conversation  at  another  time  he  said,-  "It  was  the  first 
time  I  had  made  any  investigation  of  what  political  econ- 
omy had  to  say  on  the  subject  of  wages,  and  I  adopted 
unquestioningly  the  doctrine  of  the  relation  between  wages 
and  capital  laid  down  by  Mill." 

That  is  to  say,  doing  now  as  he  once  had  done  in  em- 
bracing the  protective  principle,  and  "accepting  the  belief 
on  the  authority  of  others,"  he  abandoned  the  suggestion 
of  his  own  spontaneous  thought  when  writing  the  article 
"What  the  Railroad  Will  Bring  Us,"  namely,  that  wages  in 
California  had  a  relation  to  "the  natural  wealth  of  the 
country.  .  .  .  not  yet  monopolised" — and  "adopted 
unquestioningly"  the  explanation  made  by  the  man  famous 
as  the  great  master  of  political  economy,  that  wages  depend 
upon  the  ratio  of  labourers  to  the  so-called  wages  fund — 
to  the  capital  devoted  to  the  payment  of  wages.  How  com- 
pletely this  was  so  is  shown  by  a  passage  in  the  "Tribune" 
article. 

"There  is  a  tendency  of  wages  in  different  industries 
to  an  equilibrium,  and  of  wages  in  general  to  a  level 
which  is  determined  by  the  relative  proportions  of  capi- 

iBook  II,  Chap,  viii,  pp.  200,  201. 
2  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


Age,  30]  DEFERS   TO  MILL  197 

tal  and  labour.  .  .  .  Plainly  when  we  speak  of  a 
reduction  of  wages  in  any  general  and  permanent  sense, 
we  mean  this,  if  we  mean  anything — that  in  the  divi- 
sion of  the  joint  production  of  labour  and  capital,  the 
share  of  labour  is  to  be  smaller,  that  of  capital  larger. 
This  is  precisely  what  the  reduction  of  wages  consequent 
upon  the  introduction  of  Chinese  labour  means." 

"This  article  attracted  attention  especially  in  Califor- 
nia," Mr.  George  wrote  in  his  last  book.  While  just  be- 
ginning to  rise  to  attention  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the 
country,  the  Chinese  question  was  a  burning  one  on  the 
Pacific  side.  Some  of  the  California  newspapers  reprinted 
parts  of  the  "Tribune"  article  and  commended  it.  The 
workingmen's  organisations  hailed  it  with  particular  satis- 
faction, in  the  early  part  of  1871  it  being  reprinted  in  full 
and  circulated  by  the  Mechanics'  State  Council  of  Cali- 
fornia. This  organisation,  though  intended  primarily 
for  the  protection  of  workingmen's  interests,  at  that  time 
had  considerable  influence  in  California  politics. 

But  long  before  this  action  of  the  Mechanics'  State 
Council  the  chief  San  Francisco  newspapers  were  drawn 
into  a  renewed  discussion  of  the  "Tribune"  article  by  a 
letter  from  a  high  outside  source.  Mr.  George  says  in 
"The  Science  of  Political  Economy"  that  a  copy  of  the 
"Tribune"  article  he  sent  from  California  to  John  Stuart 
Mill  brought  a  letter  of  commendation.  The  letter  was 
received  in  J^ovember,  1869,  at  Oakland,  an  over-bay  sub- 
urb of  San  Francisco,  where  George  had  just  begun  the 
editing  of  a  little  daily  called  the  "Transcript,"  of  which 
more  will  he  learned  later.  On  Saturday,  November  20. 
he  published  a  long  editorial  and  in  it  printed  the  Mill 
letter  in  full,  saying  by  way  of  explanation : 

"It  is  frequently  asserted  here  that  the  opposition 
upon  the  part  of  the  labouring  classes  to  the  immigra- 


198  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869 

tion  of  Chinese  arises  from  ignorance  of  the  laws  of 
political  economy,  and  that  so  far  from  having  a  ten- 
dency to  reduce  them  to  a  lower  condition,  the  effect  of 
Chinese  labour  will  be  to  elevate  them.  Conceiving  that 
the  views  of  so  distinguished  an  authority  would  be  of 
much  value,  the  gentleman  to  whom  this  letter  is  ad- 
dressed v.TOto  to  Mr.  Mill,  requesting  an  opinion  upon 
this  point,  as  well  as  upon  the  general  subject." 

Then  came  the  ]\Iill  letter : 

Avignon,  France,  Oct.  23,  1869. 

"Dear  Sir  :  The  subject  on  which  you  have  asked  my 
opinion  involves  two  of  the  most  difficult  and  embarrass- 
ing questions  of  political  morality — the  extent  and  lim- 
its of  the  right  of  those  who  have  first  taken  possession 
of  the  unoccupied  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  to 
exclude  the  remainder  of  mankind  from  inhabiting  it, 
and  the  means  which  can  be  legitimately  used  by  the 
more  improved  branches  of  the  h^^man  species  to  jDrotect 
themselves  from  being  hurtfully  encroached  upon  by 
those  of  a  lower  grade  in  civilisation.  The  Chinese 
immigration  into  America  raises  both  of  these  questions. 
To  furnish  a  general  answer  to  either  of  them  would  be 
a  most  arduous  undertaking. 

"Concerning  the  purel}^  economic  view  of  the  subject, 
I  entirely  agree  with  you;  and  it  could  be  hardly  better 
stated  and  argued  than  it  is  in  your  article  in  the  'Xew 
York  Tribune.'  That  the  Chinese  immigration,  if  it 
attains  great  dimensions,  must  be  economically  inju- 
rious to  the  mass  of  the  present  population;  that  it 
must  diminish  their  wages,  and  reduce  them  to  a  lower 
stage  of  physical  comfort  and  well-being,  I  have  no 
manner  of  doubt.  Nothing  can  be  more  fallacious  than 
the  attempts  to  make  out  that  thus  to  lower  wages  is 
the  way  to  raise  them,  or  that  there  is  any  compensation, 
in  an  economical  point  of  view,  to  those  whose  labour  is 
displaced,  or  who  are  obliged  to  work  for  a  greatly  re- 
duced remuneration.  On  general  principles  this  state 
of  things,  were  it  sure  to  continue,  would  justify  the 


Age,  30]  LETTER  FROM  MILL  199 

exclusion  of  the  immigrants,  on  the  ground  that,  ^yith 
their  habits  in  respect  to  population,  only  a  temporary 
good  is  done  to  the  Chinese  people  by  admitting  part  of 
their  surplus  numbers,  while  a  permanent  harm  is  done 
to  a  more  civilised  and  improved  portion  of  mankind. 

"But  there  is  much  also  to  be  said  on  the  other  side. 
Is  it  justifiable  to  assume  that  the  character  and  habits 
of  the  Chinese  are  insusceptible  of  improvement?  The 
institutions  of  the  United  States  are  the  most  potent 
means  that  have  yet  existed  for  spreading  the  most  im- 
portant elements  of  civilisation  down  to  the  poorest  and 
most  ignorant  of  the  labouring  masses.  If  every  Chi- 
nese child  were  compulsorily  brought  under  your  school 
system,  or  under  a  still  more  effective  one  if  possible, 
and  kept  under  it  for  a  sufficient  number  of  years,  would 
not  the  Chinese  population  be  in  time  raised  to  the  level 
of  the  American?  I  believe,  indeed,  that  hitherto  the 
number  of  Chinese  born  in  America  has  not  been  very 
great;  but  so  long  as  this  is  the  case — so  long  (that  is) 
as  the  Chinese  do  not  come  in  families  and  settle,  but 
those  who  come  are  mostly  men,  and  return  to  their 
native  country,  the  evil  can  hardly  reach  so  great  a 
magnitude  as  to  require  that  it  should  be  put  a  stop 
to  by  force. 

"One  kind  of  restrictive  measure  seems  to  me  not 
only  desirable,  but  absolutely  called  for;  the  most  strin- 
gent laws  against  introducing  Chinese  immigrants  as 
coolies,  i.  e.,  under  contract  binding  them  to  the  service 
of  particular  persons.  All  such  obligations  are  a  form 
of  compulsory  labour,  that  is,  of  slavery;  and  though 
I  know  the  legal  invalidity  of  such  contracts  does  not 
prevent  them  being  made,  I  cannot  but  think  that  if 
pains  were  taken  to  make  it  known  to  the  immigrants 
that  such  engagements  are  not  legally  binding,  and  espe- 
cially if  it  were  made  a  penal  offence  to  enter  into  them, 
that  mode  at  least  of  immigration  would  receive  a  con- 
siderable check ;  and  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  any 
mode,  among  so  poor  a  population  as  the  Chinese,  can 
attain  such  dimensions  as  to  compete  very  injuriously 
with  American  labour.     Short  of  that  point,  the  oppor- 


200  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869 

tunity  given  to  numerous  Chinese  of  becoming  familiar 
with  better  and  more  civilised  habits  of  life,  is  one  of 
the  best  chances  that  can  be  opened  up  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  Chinese  in  their  own  country,  and 
one  which  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  it  would  be  right 
to  withhold  from  them.     I  am,  dear  sir, 

"Yours  very  sincerely, 
"Henry  George,  Esq.,  "J-  S-  Mill." 

"San  Francisco,  Cal." 

Commenting  on  this,  the  "Transcript"  editorial  said : 
"With  all  its  qualifications,  Mr.  Mill's  opinion  entirely  jus- 
tifies the  position  of  those  who  take  ground  in  favour 
of  restrictions  upon  the  immigration  of  these  people,"  for 
"Chinese  labour  has  already  begun  to  compete  injuriously 
with  white  labour,  and  that  it  will  soon  be  competing 
very  injuriously,  no  one  who  has  noticed  how  rapidly  these 
people  are  entering  and  monopolising  one  branch  of  busi- 
ness after  another,  can  have  any  doubt."  Moreover,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  Chinese  immigrants  are  contract  labourers 
and  it  would  be  useless  to  pass  laws  against  such  contracts ; 
while  as  for  slavery,  "Chinese  women  are  sold  and  staked 
at  the  gambling  table  in  San  Francisco  every  day  of  the 
week."  The  editorial  concluded  with  this  tribute  to  the 
eminent  English  economist : 

"Yet,  whether  we  agree  or  disagree  with  his  opinions; 
whether  we  adopt  or  dissent  from  his  conclusions,  no 
American  can  fail  to  have  for  this  great  Englishman 
the  profoundest  respect.  It  is  not  merely  the  rank  he 
has  won  in  the  republic  of  letters ;  not  merely  the  service 
he  has  rendered  to  one  of  the  most  beneficial,  if  not 
the  noblest,  of  sciences;  not  merely  the  courage  and  de- 
votion with  which  he  has  laboured  for  the  cau??e  of 
popular  rights  in  his  own  country ;  not  merely  his  high 
private  character  and  pure  life,  which  set  off  his  great 


Age,  30]  TRIBUTE  TO  MILL  201 

talents  and  public  virtues,  that  entitle  John  Stuart  Mill 
to  the  respect  of  Americans.  Beyond  all  this,  they  can 
never  forget  that  he  stood  the  true  friend  to  their  coun- 
try in  its  darkest  day;  devoting  his  great  talents  and 
lending  his  great  reputation  to  the  support  of  the  Ee- 
public  when  she  had  closed  in  what  seemed  there  her 
death  grapple;  that  it  was  he  more  than  any  other  man 
who  turned  the  tide  of  English  opinion  and  sympathy 
in  our  favour,  and  by  exhibiting  the  true  character  of 
the  struggle,  gave  us  the  moral  support  of  the  middle 
class  of  Great  Britain.  Services  such  as  these  entitle 
John  Stuart  Mill  to  something  more  from  us  than  even 
the  respect  which  is  due  him  as  a  writer,  statesman  or 
philosopher — to  our  affection  as  well  as  our  admiration." 

The  "Transcript"  editorial  with  the  Mill  letter  made 
something  like  a  sensation  throughout  California.  Some 
of  the  pro-Chinese  papers  republished  both  in  garbled 
form,  and  in  such  form  the  letter  may  have  got  back  to 
Mill.  At  any  rate,  an  editorial  on  the  subject  in  the 
Chicago  "Tribune"  drew  from  Mill  a  communication  to 
Horace  White  of  that  paper,  saying  that  judging  from  the 
comments,  the  published  copy  of  his  letter  must  have  been 
a  mutilated  one.  White  published  this.  Mr.  George  had 
meanwhile  become  editor  of  the  "Sacramento  Reporter." 
Seeing  the  Mill  letter  to  White,  he  promptly  republished  it 
and  also  the  earlier  Mill  letter  to  himself,  putting  both  in 
a  signed  editorial  explaining  that  there  had  been  no  garb- 
ling at  any  time  on  his  part.  This  article  he  sent  to  Mill, 
who  made  reply  that  he  was  "perfectly  satisfied." 

Some  of  the  pro-Chinese  papers  in  California,  while  not 
attempting  to  garble  the  original  Mill  letter,  took  to  abus- 
ing Henry  George ;  one  of  them,  the  San  Francisco  "Bulle- 
tin," saying  that  Mill  had  been  misled  by  George  in  the 
"New  York  Tribune"  article,  as  that  was  "written  from  the 
exaggerated    standpoint    of    a    certain    class    of    political 


202  LIFE  OP   HENRY  GEORGE  [1869 

alarmists  who  either  have  not  carefully  studied  the  facts  or 
who  use  the  question  as  a  good  demagogue  card  to  win 
ignorant  votes."  But  notwithstanding  such  utterances, 
George's  "Xew  York  Tribune"  article  expressed  a  strong 
and  strengthening  sentiment  that  soon  dominated  State 
politics,  insjDired  a  long  series  of  legislative  acts,  and 
eventuated  in  1892,  twenty-three  years  afterwards,  in  the 
passage  by  Congress  of  the  Geary  law,  prohibiting  "the 
coming  of  Chinese  persons  into  the  United  States"  and 
providing  for  deportation  under  certain  conditions. 

To  the  end  of  his  life  Mr.  George  held  to  the  views 
against  free  entrance  of  the  Chinese  set  forth  in  his 
"Tribune"  article  in  1869.  They  appear  in  many  of  his 
subsequent  California  speeches  and  writings,  and  in  1881 
were  set  out  fully  in  a  signed  article  published  in  Lalor's 
"C3^clopedia  of  Political  Science,  Political  Economy  and 
of  the  Political  History  of  the  United  States." 

And  when  in  the  fall  of  1893,  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
of  Boston  addressed  a  letter  to  James  G.  Maguire,  who 
represented  the  Fourth  California  District  in  Congress, 
upbraiding  the  congressman  with  being  false  to  his  single 
tax  principles  of  equal  rights,  in  supporting  and  voting 
for  an  amendment  extending  the  Geary  Chinese  Exclusion 
Act,  Mr.  George  replied  (IsTew  York  November  30),  a 
copy  of  the  letter  to  Maguire  having  been  sent  to  him  by 
Garrison : 

"To  your  proposition  that  the  right  to  the  use  of  the 
earth  is  not  confined  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States,  I  most  cordially  assent.  But  what  you  seem 
to  think  follows  from  that,  'The  humblest  Chinama,n 
has  as  much  natural  right  to  use  the  earth  of  California 
as  yourself,  and  it  is  your  inalienable  right  to  change 
your  residence  to  any  land  under  the  sun/  I  most  em- 
phatically   deny.     Are    men    merely    individuals?     Is 


Age,  30] 


CHINESE  EXCLUSION  203 


there  no  such  thing  as  famil}',  nation,  race?  Is  there 
not  the  right  of  association,  and  the  correlative  right 
of  exclusion?     .     .     . 

"Your  parallel  between  those  who  supported  slavery 
and  those  who  oppose  Chinese  immigration  is  not  a 
true  one.  The  first  of  the  evils  wrought  by  African 
slavery  in  the  United  States  was  the  bringing  hither  of 
large  numbers  of  the  blacks,  an  evil  which  still  remains 
a  source  of  weakness  and  danger,  though  slavery  is 
gone.  Let  me  ask  you:  If  to-day  there  was  the  same 
possibility  of  a  great  coming  of  African  negroes  to  this 
country  as  there  would  be  of  Chinamen  if  all  restric- 
tion were  removed,  would  you  consider  it  a  wise  thing 
to  permit  it  under  present  conditions?  And  would  you 
consider  it  at  all  inconsistent  with  your  anti-slavery 
principles  or  with  your  recognition  of  human  equality 
to  try  to  prevent  it  ?    I  certainly  would  not.     .     .     . 

"I  have  written  to  you  frankly,  but  I  trust  not  un- 
kindly. I  have  for  you  too  much  respect  and  affection 
to  wantonly  accentuate  any  difference  there  may  be  in 
our  ways  of  looking  at  things." 

But  while  approving  of  Chinese  exclusion  "under  pres- 
ent conditions,"  Henry  George  could  conceive  of  a  state  of 
things  under  which  such  a  policy  would  not  be  necessary. 
In  a  lecture  in  San  Francisco  ^  while  writing  "Progress 
and  Poverty,'"'  he  said :  "Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  not 
only  more  important  to  abolish  land  monopoly  than  to  get 
rid  of  the  Chinese;  but  to  abolish  land  monopoly  will  be 
to  make  short  work  of  the  Chinese  question.  Clear  out 
the  land-grabber  and  the  Chinaman  must  go.  Eoot  the 
white  race  in  the  soil,  and  all  the  millions  of  Asia  cannot 
dispossess  it." 

1  ""WTiy  Work  is  Scarce,  Wages  Low,  and  Labour  Restless,"  Metropoli- 
tan Temple,  March  26,  1878. 


CHAPTER   11. 
STRIFE   AND   THE   NATURAL    ORDER. 

1869-1871.  Age,  30-32. 

WHEN  CEdipus,  in  Greek  mythology,  travelled  to- 
wards the  city  of  Thebes  he  found  widespread  dis- 
tress from  deaths  wrought  by  the  monster  Sphinx,  who  had 
the  body  of  a  lion,  and  the  head,  breast  and  arms  of  a 
woman,  and  who  put  a  riddle  to  all  approaching,  which 
not  to  answer  meant  to  be  hurled  headlong  from  the  rock 
where  she  abode.  Many  had  tried,  but  all  had  failed ;  and 
through  the  country  as  Q^ldipus  moved  on  came  constant 
lamentation  and  constant  warning. 

Henry  George  walking  through  the  streets  of  New  York, 
had  seen  the  want  and  misery  wrought  by  the  Sphinx  of 
modern  civilisation,  and  as  if  to  keep  him  strung  to  ner- 
vous tension  and  ever  mindful  of  his  vow  to  charge  the 
monster  and  solve  the  problem.  Adversity  kept  close  to  his 
heels.  For  when  he  got  back  to  San  Francisco,  the  press- 
ing personal  question  was,  what  was  he  to  do? 

But  he  was  not  one  to  wait  for  something  to  come  to 
him.  He  at  once  got  an  anti-telegraph  monopoly  resolu- 
tion introduced  into  the  legislature,  and  this  being  popular, 
was  easily  passed.  Next  he  sketched  out  several  maga- 
zine articles  on  the  Chinese  question,  (though  none  of 
these  were  ever  finished)  ;   and  wrote   several   editorials 

204 


Age,  30-32]  BACK  SETTING  TYPE  205 

for  the  "Evening  Bulletin/'  for  which  he  was  twice  urged 
to  go  East  as  special  correspondent,  but  refused.  For 
awhile,  hard  pressed  for  money,  he  went  into  the  compos- 
ing room  of  the  "Herald"  and  set  type.  Something  over 
$700  was  still  owing  from  that  paper  on  his  hack  salary 
and  various  accounts  in  New  York.  Nugent  getting  into 
a  rage  when  the  money  was  demanded,  George  retaliated  by 
wiring  Hasson  to  stop  the  news  service.  Small  though  that 
service  then  was,  its  absence  was  a  great  loss  to  the  paper, 
and  Nugent  came  partially  to  terms,  yet  did  not  settle  en- 
tirely until  George  sued  out  an  attachment.  In  the  middle 
of  August  (19)  George  wrote  to  Philadelphia: 

"As  for  me,  I  am  doing  various  miscellaneous  work; 
just  now  for  a  few  days  editing  an  Irish  Catholic  paper 
for  a  friend.^ 

"I  go  around  very  little — not  as  much  as  would  be 
wise,  I  presume,  and  pass  most  of  my  evenings  in  read- 
ing, something  I  have  not  done  much  of  for  some  years 
— not  a  tenth  part  as  much  as  I  would  like  to." 

One  of  the  books  he  read,  and  was  "much  impressed" 
with,  was  "Lord  Chesterfield's  Letters,"  entering  in  his 
pocket  diary:  "Suaviter  in  modo;  fortiter  in  re."  The 
diary  also  announces  that  on  July  30  after  dinner,  he 
went  to  his  room  to  read,  "fell  asleep,  and  was  nearly  suf- 
focated by  gas";  for  the  supply,  cut  off  at  the  meter  dur- 
ing the  day,  was  turned  on  as  night  approached,  and  the 
cock  in  the  room  having  by  some  chance  been  left  open, 
allowed  free  escape.  This  was  in  the  old  Federal  building 
on  Washington  Street,  where  Mr.  George  at  the  time  was 
rooming.  His  wife  heard  nothing  of  the  matter  until 
long  afterwards.  But  she  did  hear  something  from  him 
that  gave  her  deep  pleasure. 

1  The  paper  was  the  "Monitor,''  and  the  friend,  its  editor,  John  Barry, 


206  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869-i87l 

Acting  upon  an  idea  thrown  out  in  a  letter  from  New 
York  to  Sumner,  Mr.  George  had  got  his  friends  to  work 
for  his  nomination  on  the  Democratic  ticket  for  the  Assem- 
bly. Presently  he  wrote  to  his  wife  that  her  uncle, 
Matthew  McCloskey,  who  had  not  exchanged  a  word  with 
them  since  the  runaway  marriage,  was  showing  active  hos- 
tility by  working  against  the  nomination.  Next  day  the 
husband  wrote  that  he  had  been  misinformed;  that  Mr. 
McCloskey  was  working  for  him,  not  against  him,  and 
singing  his  praises  for  character  and  ability ;  and  that  they 
had  become  reconciled.  The  friendship  thus  renewed 
was  of  the  strongest  kind,  Matthew  McCloskey  on  his 
death-bed  six  or  eight  years  later  commending  his  family 
to  Henry  George  for  counsel. 

Mr.  George's  desire  for  election  to  the  legislature  was 
more  than  a  vague  ambition  to  get  forward  in  the  world. 
For  the  young  man,  though  he  had  not  yet  come  to  clear 
ideas  on  the  social  problem,  had  in  his  mind's  eye,  as  may 
be  judged  from  his  editorial  and  correspondence  experi- 
ence, a  mass  of  matters  to  press  for  legislative  attention; 
and  as  for  big  things,  there  were  the  anti-telegraph,  anti- 
express  company  and  anti-railroad  fights  to  make,  and  it 
was  also  quite  evident  that  something  should  be  done  to 
discourage  the  massing  of  land  in  California  into  great 
estates.  But  disappointment  was  in  store.  He  failed  to 
get  nominated,  or  rather,  he  could  have  been  nominated 
but  refused  to  pay  the  assessment  asked  by  the  party  man- 
agers, and  that  ended  his  hope  for  the  candidature. 

The  disappointment  was  all  the  harder  to  bear  because 
it  came  at  the  end  of  a  line  of  failures  since  his  return 
from  the  East.  He  had  succeeded  neither  in  making  any 
permanent  newspaper  connection,  nor  in  getting  started  in 
a  higher  literary  field.  He  had  not  even  contrived  to  make 
a  good  living,  getting  a  mere  hand-to-mouth  siibsistence. 


Age,  30-32]  POLITICAL   DISAPPOINTMENT  207 

And  now  the  political  view  had  been  cut  off.  The  future 
looked  dark,  indeed.  The  one  chance  seemed  to  be  in  the 
East,  where  a  place  on  John  Eussell  Young's  proposed 
paper  was  held  out,  Mrs.  George,  who  was  beginning  to 
develop  a  lively  interest  in  public  questions  and  to  enter 
understandingly  into  her  husband's  ambitions,  having 
written  in  August  (15)  : 

"Mr.  Hasson  spent  two  or  three  hours  with  us  this 
afternoon.  He  is  a  firm  friend  and  ardent  admirer  of 
yours.  .  .  .  He  says  that  John  Eussell  Young  is 
going  to  start  a  hundred  thousand  dollar  paper  in  the 
fall,  and  will  want  your  services,  as  he  thinks  there  is 
no  one  like  you.  Hasson  says  that  Young  told  Greeley 
that  when  he  let  you  go  he  let  go  the  very  man  he  had 
been  looking  for  for  two  years." 

This  newspaper  project  of  Young's  seemed  the  only 
but  yet  very  slender  hope,  for  liiew  York  was  very  far 
away  and  the  plan  a  thing  nebulous  and  uncertain.  He 
was  greatly  dejected.  His  plight,  as  he  said  afterwards, 
was  like  that  of  a  traveller  on  the  plains,  a  mountain  range 
in  front.  The  mountains  rose  wall-like  against  the  dis- 
tant sky — uHbroken  and  too  high  to  scale.  But  as  he 
advanced,  a  cleft  appeared  and  then  deepened  and  widened 
into  a  pass.  For  in  the  midst  of  his  depression  came  a 
call  to  him  from  an  unthought  of  quarter. 

Through  the  organisation  in  San  Francisco  of  a  branch 
of  the  American  Free  Trade  League,  whose  headquarters 
were  in  New  York,  Mr.  George  came  into  touch  with  the 
Governor  of  California,  Henry  H.  Haight,  regarded  by 
many  as  the  ablest  executive  the  State  has  ever  had.  Dur- 
ing the  war  Haight  had  been  a  strong  Eepublican,  but  he 
revolted  against  the  policy  of  centralisation  and  special 
legislation  that  followed.     He  espoused  the  princii^les  of 


208  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1869-1871 

Thomas  Jefferson  and  became  an  avowed  Democrat  and  an 
out-spoken  free  trader.  Henry  George  had  gone  through 
precisely  the  same  kind  of  political  change.  While  on  the 
"Times"  he  wrote  many  editorials  supporting  principles 
and  measures  leading  away  from  the  Republican  strict 
party  policy,  and  as  a  consequence  even  then  was  "rapidly 
becoming  disgusted"  with  that  party.  He  voted  for  Grant 
for  the  Presidency  in  the  fall  of  1868,  only  to  see  the  sol- 
dier, as  he  expressed  it,  give  himself  up  to  his  political 
friends,  so  that  Mr.  George  concluded  that  "the  Eepublican 
party  had  served  its  purpose,"  that  it  had  become  chiefly  a 
party  for  special  interests. 

Now,  across  San  Francisco  Bay  at  Oakland  was  a  little 
Democratic  paper  called  the  "Transcript,"  owned  by  two 
men,  Hiram  Tubbs,  proprietor  of  the  leading  hotel  and 
much  real  estate  there,  and  John  Scott,  a  prosperous  car- 
penter and  builder  and  prominent  as  a  politician.  Scott 
was  a  colonel  on  the  staff  of  the  governor,  who  thereby 
was  indirectly  interested  in  the  paper.  Indeed,  he  and 
Scott  had  looked  about  for  a  good  Democratic  editor,  and 
judging  of  George's  principles  and  abilities  by  his  Chinese 
article  and  his  editorials  in  the  "Times,"  and  coming  in 
contact  with  him  through  the  organisation  of  the  Free 
Trade  League,  concluded  that  he  was  the  man  they  sought, 
and  the  position  was  offered  him.  He  accepted  and  his 
name  appeared  at  the  head  of  its  editorial  columns. 

Henry  George's  connection  with  the  "Transcript"  was 
short,  but  was  marked  by  three  important  events.  It  was 
then  that  the  John  Stuart  Mill  letter  came.  Mill  was  at 
the  zenith  of  his  reputation,  so  that  it  was  with  keen  pride 
that  this  young  country  editor  published  in  the  columns  of 
his  paper  a  letter  that  set  all  the  papers  of  the  State  to 
buzzing. 

It  was  also  at  this  time  that  Mr.  George  made  the  ae- 


Age,  30-32]  THE  OAKLAND   "TRANSCRIPT"  209 

quaintance  of  William  Swinton,  brother  of  John  Swinton, 
the  well-known  radical  of  New  York.  William  Swinton 
was  born  in  Scotland  in  1833,  was  well  educated,  finishing 
at  Amherst  College,  Mass. ;  at  twenty  wrote  a  large  part 
of  a  book,  "Rambles  Among  Words";  later  held  a  pro- 
fessorship of  ancient  and  modern  languages;  during  the 
war  made  a  brilliant  field  correspondent  for  the  "New 
York  Times"' ;  afterwards  wrote  two  authoritative  works, 
"Campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac"  and  "The 
Twelve  Decisive  Battles  of  the  War";  and  in  1869  had 
come  to  California  to  accept  the  chair  of  English  language 
and  literature,  rhetoric,  logic  and  history  in  the  University 
of  California,  then  just  being  founded  at  Oakland.  He 
was  a  man  of  wide  reading  in  the  field  of  belles-lettres,  of 
quick  mind,  fine  taste  and  copious  suggestiveness ;  and 
though  sprung  from,  and  following  the  schools,  formed  a 
close  affinity  with  this  young  editor,  who  could  not  boast 
of  ever  having  had  any  college  connections.  Then  and  in 
the  years  following  Swinton  drew  George  out  and  encour- 
aged him  to  aim  at  the  higher  domain  of  literature. 

But  more  important  for  the  young  editor  than  anything 
else  that  occurred  during  the  "Transcript"  period  was  the 
solution  of  the  Sphinx's  question,  the  discovery  of  the  nat- 
ural order;  the  answer  to  the  quest  he  had  set  himself  in 
the  streets  of  New  York — why  poverty  accompanies  wealth 
in  advancing  civilisation.  It  came  about  through  a 
trifling  incident.  Mr.  George  had  now  commenced  the 
habit  of  horseback  riding — a  habit  that  continued  inter- 
mittently for  nearly  ten  years.  At  any  hour  that  he  was 
free  and  had  the  inclination  he  would  hire  a  horse  and  find 
mental  change  in  a  lope  into  the  open  country  of  the  foot- 
hills. But  wherever  he  rode,  one  thing  faced  him.  The 
trans-continental  railroad  system  had  been  completed, 
only  a  few  months  before  the  last  spike,  made  of  gold,  hav- 


210  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1869-1871 

ing  been  driven.  The  California  terminal  was  at  Sacra- 
mento, and  there  was  a  ferment  over  the  proposal  to  ex- 
tend the  line  to  Oakland.  A  very  general  belief  was  that 
the  advantages  from  the  railroad  would  be  so  important 
as  rapidly  to  attract  population  and  form  a  great  city  in 
and  about  Oakland  to  compete  with  San  Francisco.  Land 
at  even  far-removed  points  therefore  rose  to  extravagant 
figures.  Men  made  themselves  "land  poor"  in  order  to 
get  and  to  hold  as  many  feet  or  acres  as  possible  in  antici- 
pation of  the  rise  in  value  that  a  swelling  population  would 
make.  Speculation  in  land  ran  far  in  advance  of  its  use. 
Amid  these  circumstances  Henry  George  went  for  a  ride 
one  afternoon.     Of  this  he  has  said.^ 

"Absorbed  in  my  own  thoughts,  I  had  driven  the  horse 
into  the  hills  until  he  panted.  Stopping  for  breath, 
I  asked  a  passing  teamster,  for  want  of  something  bet- 
ter to  say,  what  land  was  worth  there.  He  pointed  to 
some  cows  grazing  off  so  far  that  they  looked  like  mice 
and  said :  'I  don't  know  exactly,  but  there  is  a  man  over 
there  who  will  sell  some  land  for  a  thousand  dollars  an 
acre.'  Like  a  flash  it  came  upon  me  tliat  there  was  the 
reason  of  advancing  poverty  with  advancing  wealth. 
With  the  growth  of  population,  land  grows  in  value,  and 
the  men  who  work  it  must  pay  more  for  the  privilege. 
I  turned  back,  amidst  quiet  thought,  to  the  perception 
that  then  came  to  me  and  has  been  with  me  ever  since." 

This  truth  was  to  dwell  in  his  thoughts  and  slowly  de- 
velop for  a  year  and  a  half,  when  it  should  burst  into 
expression.  Meanwhile  Governor  Haight's  political  plans 
matured.  He  determined  to  broaden  out  his  fight  against 
the  Central  Pacific  Eailroad  which  now,  like  a  monster 
of  fairy  lore,  had  swallowed,  or  was  about  to   swallow, 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897.     Also   see  "The  Science   of  Political 
Economy,"  Book  II,  Chap,  v,  p.  1C3. 


Age,  30-32]  PERCEIVES  NATUEAL  ORDER  211 

great  and  small  competitors,  and  all  things  else  that  could 
be  useful  or  that  got  in  its  way.  Public  feeling  expressive 
of  resentment  at  the  encroachment  on  popular  rights  be- 
gan to  appear,  and  Haight,  sharing  this  feeling,  gave 
definite  form  and  direction  to  it  by  attacking  the  rail- 
road's subsidy  policy.  The  railroad  was  gulping  down 
lands,  bonds  and  money  showered  upon  it,  all  the  while 
like  a  weakling  pleading  for  more.  The  plain  and  palpa- 
ble fact  was  that  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  imperial 
endowment  in  lands,  it  had  already  received  several  times 
more  money,  or  what  could  immediately  be  turned  into 
money,  than  was  necessary  to  build  the  system,  and  that 
contemporary  with  the  work  of  railroad  construction  had 
arisen  the  private  fortunes  of  the  big  four  manipulating 
the  corporation — Stanford,  Crocker,  Huntington  and 
Hopkins,  who,  from  comparative  poverty,  had  quickly 
risen  to  the  class  of  multi-millionaires. 

Aside  from  the  principle  of  subsidies,  these  private 
fortunes  were  a  proof  to  such  men  as  Haight  that  the 
policy  was  wrong  for  California  as  a  State  to  pursue,  or 
to  authorise  its  municipalities  to  pursue.  He,  therefore, 
prepared  for  war  on  the  "Great  Absorber,"  and  invited 
Mr.  George  to  take  the  management  of  the  chief  party 
paper  at  the  capital,  the  "Sacramento  Eeporter."  which, 
under  the  name  of  the  "State  Capital  Eeporter,"'  had  been 
edited  by  Ex-Governor  Bigler,  who  now  retired.  The 
State  Publishing  Company  was  organised  to  publish  the 
paper,  and  besides  a  fair  salary,  Mr.  George  was  offered  a 
fourth  of  the  stock.  The  rest  was  to  be  held  by  some  of 
the  Governor's  political  friends.  Mr.  George  was  ready 
to  leave  the  "Transcript,"  as  his  relations  with  Colonel 
Scott  were  no  longer  pleasant.  He  accepted  the  "Re- 
porter" offer  and  in  February,  1870,  moved  to  Sacramento 
and  commenced  work  in  his  new  field. 


212  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1869-1871 

Soon  after  Mr.  George  took  charge  of  the  Sacramento 
paper  a  press  war  opened  and  he  got  into  the  middle  of  it. 
It  was  nothing  less  than  a  resumption  of  the  fight  against 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Associated 
Press.  A  new  telegraph  system,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific, 
had  entered  the  field  against  the  Western  Union  Company. 
Discontent  among  the  old  newspapers  and  needs  of  the  new 
ones  seized  this  channel  for  news  competition  by  the  or- 
ganisation of  the  American  Press  Association  as  a  rival  to 
the  Associated  Press.  It  was  made  up  of  a  lot  of  strong 
journals  in  the  East  and  started  off  under  favourable  aus- 
pices, with  John  Russell  Young,  who  had  just  started 
his  New  York  "Standard,"  as  president,  and  John  Hasson, 
as  general  agent.  Indeed,  Hasson  had  largely,  if  not 
chiefly,  to  do  with  the  organisation  of  the  association,  and 
in  turn  acknowledged  that  he  had  got  much  of  his  expe- 
rience and  preparation  under  George,  when  they  were 
Avarring  with  the  Associated  Press  and  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  for  the  San  Francisco  "Herald." 
Young  and  Hasson  at  once  chose  George  for  their  Cali- 
fornia agent. 

Mr.  George  drew  a  number  of  papers  into  the  new  asso- 
ciation, starting  with  his  own,  the  "Eeporter,"  and  includ- 
ing Charles  DeYoung's  paper,  the  "San  Francisco  Chron- 
icle." The  Franco-Prussian  war  being  on,  foreign  news 
was  heavy;  accordingly,  the  expense  high.  The  price 
of  the  service  for  the  California  papers  was  advanced  and 
the  agent  put  the  increase  upon  the  "Chronicle,"  the  paper 
which  could  best  bear  it  and  which  got  most  advantage 
from  it.  But  De Young  made  such  an  ado  that  George 
called  a  meeting  of  the  papers'  representatives.  In  one 
of  his  books,  "The  Land  Question,"  to  illustrate  another 
matter,  he  in  a  veiled  way  told  of  what  occurred  at  this 
meeting : 


Age,  30-32]  ANOTHER  PRESS  WAR  213 

"Once  upon  a  time  I  was  a  Pacific  Coast  agent  of  an 
Eastern  news  association,  which  took  advantage  of  an 
opposition  telegraph  company  to  run  against  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  monopoly.  The  x\ssociation  in  California 
consisted  of  one  strong  San  Francisco  paper,  to  which 
telegraphic  news  was  of  much  importance,  and  a  num- 
ber of  interior  papers,  to  which  it  was  of  minor  impor- 
tance, if  of  any  importance  at  all.  It  became  necessary 
to  raise  more  money  for  the  expenses  of  collecting  and 
transmitting  these  despatches,  and  thinking  it  only  fair, 
I  assessed  the  increased  cost  to  the  strong  metropolitan 
paper.  The  proprietor  of  this  paper  was  very  indig- 
nant. He  appealed  to  the  proprietors  of  all  the  other 
papers  and  they  all  joined  in  his  protest.  I  replied  by 
calling  a  meeting.  At  this  meeting  the  proprietor  of 
the  San  Francisco  paper  led  off  with  an  indignant 
speech.  He  was  seconded  by  several  others,  and  evi- 
dently had  the  sympathy  of  the  whole  crowd.  Then 
came  my  turn.  I  said,  in  effect:  'Gentlemen,  you  can 
do  what  you  please  about  this  matter.  Whatever  satis- 
fies you  satisfies  me.  The  only  thing  fixed  is  that  more 
money  has  to  be  raised.  As  this  San  Francisco  paper 
pays  now  a  much  lower  relative  rate  than  you  do,  I 
thought  it  only  fair  that  it  should  pay  the  increased 
cost.  But,  if  you  think  otherwise,  there  is  no  reason  in 
the  world  why  you  should  not  pay  it  yourselves.'  The 
debate  immediately  took  another  turn,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  my  action  was  indorsed  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
for  the  San  Francisco  man  was  so  disgusted  by  the 
way  his  supporters  left  him  that  he  would  not  vote 
at  all."i 

This  fight  on  the  Associated  Press  and  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  was  kept  up,  so  far  as  Mr. 
George  was  concerned,  until  the  following  spring,  when  he 
Avas  out  of  the  "Sacramento  Reporter"  and  back  in  San 
Francisco. 


i"The  Land  Question,"  Chap.  XI;    (Memorial  Edition,  pp.  69-70). 


214  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1869-1871 

Meanwhile  he  had  brought  his  family  to  Sacramento 
from  the  East,  and  with  them  liis  brother  VaJlence,  and 
settled  down  at  housekeeping.  But  now  he  narrowly 
escaped  losing  his  life,  for  one  day  just  as  he  was  about  to 
mount  a  horse  for  a  ride,  the  animal  jumped,  and  throwing 
him,  dragged  him  for  some  distance  before  he  could  free 
his  foot  from  the  stirrup.  He  received  a  slight  blow  on  the 
head  and  other  injuries  that  were  only  temporary.  That 
accident  made  him  realise  how  uncertain  life  is,  so  that  at 
once  he  got  out  an  insurance,  a  thing  that  before  this  he 
had  thought  of  but  lightly.  All  through  this  period  he  was 
in  regular  and  loving  communication  with  his  folks  at 
Philadelphia,  his  father  for  instance  writing  June  2: 
"Your  papers,  after  I  have  read  them,  I  give  to  some  good 
old  Jackson  Democrats,  and  many  warm  congratulations  I 
have  received  that  I  have  a  son  so  bold  and  firm  and  con- 
sistent for  the  old  Democratic  principles." 

The  father  truly  characterised  his  son's  paper.  While 
it  vigorously  denounced  "carpet-bag"  rule  in  the  so-called 
"reconstructed"  South,  it  took  high  Jeffersonian  ground  on 
questions  raising  local  issues.  Of  necessity  the  young  editor 
was  brought  into  close  touch  with  Governor  Haight,  and 
through  this  intercourse  became  acquainted  with  Haight's 
private  secretary,  a  young  man  named  Edward  E.  Taylor, 
with  whom  he  afterwards  grew  intimate,  until,  when 
"Progress  and  Poverty"  was  being  written,  Taylor  was 
chief  friend,  critic  and  adviser. 

First  of  all  matters  of  interest  at  this  period  was  the 
anti-railroad  war.  The  Central  Pacific  had  set  its  heart 
on  a  further  era  of  subsidies.  Haight  set  himself  to  kill 
the  scheme,  and  with  the  scheme  to  destroy  the  principle 
in  public  estimation ;  for  it  was  a  generally  approved  prin- 
ciple prior  to  this,  the  Governor  himself,  having  given  his 
sanction  to  several  subsidy  bills  in  behalf  of  other  corpor- 


Age,  30-32]  GREAT   RAILROAD  FIGHT  215 

ations.  Under  his  direction  public  thought  became  roused, 
the  question  entered  politics  and  the  railroad  was  suddenly 
conscious  of  formidable  opposition — an  opposition  which 
had  been  awakened,  aside  from  the  Governor's  official  and 
personal  efforts,  largely  through  the  columns  of  the"Sac- 
ramento  Eeporter." 

The  Central  Pacific  had  become  the  overshadowing  in- 
fluence in  California.  It  owned  or  controlled  most  of  the 
press,  swayed  the  legislature,  bent  the  courts,  governed 
banks  and  moved  as  a  mighty  force  in  politics.  It  was 
quick  to  recognise  talent  and  as  quick  to  engage  or  reward 
it.^  Out  of  imperial  coffers  it  had  fortunes  to  bestow. 
With  a  word  it  could  make  men,  and  so  far  as  the  masses 
were  concerned,  could  as  easily  break  men.  Of  those  who 
could  not,  or  would  not  serve,  it  asked  only  silence,  merely 
immunity  from  attack.  Henry  George  had  now  come  to 
have  a  recognised  influence  with  his  pen.     What  more  easy 

1  ' '  Among  the  most  prominent  figures  in  the  Republican  national  con- 
vention (1888)  was  Creed  Haymonil,  chairman  of  the  California  delegation, 
and  foremost  among  the  '  boomers  '  of  '  Blaine  and  Protection. '  To  those 
who  knew  him  years  ago  it  seemed  a  queer  place  for  him  to  be.  Creed  Hay- 
mond  is  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  a  Democrat  by  instinct  and  tradition. 
During  the  War.  he  was  in  California,  a  strong  secessionist  and  afterwards 
was  prominent  and  useful  as  an  anti-monopolj',  free-trade  Democrat. 
He  is  a  fine  lawyer,  a  man  of  exceedingly  quick  and  nimble  mind,  and 
like  most  Southern  men  of  his  class,  a  born  politician.  He  rendered  very 
efficient  aid  to  Governor  Haight  in  his  struggle  with  tlie  Pacific  Railroad 
monopoly,  and  no  one  in  the  country  could  have  better  startled  the  Chicago 
convention  with  a  Jeffei'sonian  speech.  But  like  many  other  men  in  Cali- 
fornia, Creed  Raymond  at  length  grew  tired  of  what  seemed  an  utterly 
hopeless  fight,  and  the  raih-oad  octopus,  true  to  its  policy  of  taking  into 
its  service  men  of  ability  who  might  be  dangerous  to  it  outside,  made 
him  head  of  its  law  bureau  with  a  salary  of  $25,000  a  year.  Thus  it 
comes  that  Creed  Haymond  makes  his  appearance  in  a  national  Repub- 
lican convention  at  the  head  of  a  delegation  representing  the  Central 
Pacific  railroad  ring. " —  Signed  editorial  by  Henry  George,  "The  Standard," 
New  York,  June  30,  1888. 


216  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [i869-i8Tl 

than  for  him  to  be  at  peace  with  the  great  corporation, 
and  obtaining  some  dignified  place  within  its  giving,  as 
some  of  his  acquaintances  had  already  done,  enjoy  tranquil 
days,  during  which  to  develop  his  philosophy  of  the  natural 
order  to  a  readiness  for  launching  when  the  favourable 
moment  should  come !  But  the  young  man  was  not  to  be 
tempted.  The  one  course,  then  open  for  the  railroad  peo- 
ple was  to  buy  control  of  the  "Reporter,"  which  they 
quietly  did.  George  thereupon  found  himself  to  be  editor 
of  a  newspaper  whose  policy  he  could  no  longer  direct — a 
paper  which  by  reason  of  its  new  ownership  must  favour 
the  very  interest  which  he  had  been  so  vigourously  oppos- 
ing. He  at  once  resigned,  sold  out  his  fourth  interest,^ 
moved  with  his  family  to  San  Francisco,  and  took  a  little 
house  on  Stevenson  Street,  on  the  site  since  occupied  by 
the  Odd  Fellows'  building.  This  was  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  1870,  nine  months  after  going  on  the  paper. 

But  if  the  railroad  management  expected  in  this  way  to 
silence  the  trenchant  pen  they  made  a  mistake,  for  it 
was  Haight's  plan,  as  well  as  George's  desire,  to  make  the 
subsidy  question  the  chief  issue  at  the  State  election  in  the 
fall.  Mr.  George  therefore  wrote  a  sixteen  paged,  closely 
printed  pamphlet  under  the  title  of  "The  Subsidy  Ques- 
tion and  the  Democratic  Party."  The  nature  and  tone  of 
the  pamphlet  may  be  judged  by  the  concluding  paragraphs : 

"Let  us  recapitulate : 

"Eailroad  subsidies,  like  protective  duties,  are  con- 
demned by  the  economic  principle  that  the  development 
of  industry  .should  be  left  free  to  take  its  natural 
direction. 

"They  are  condemned  by  the  political  principle  that 
government  should  be  reduced  to  its  minimum — that  it 

iThe  "Reporter"  not  long  afterwards  was  merged  in  the  "Sacramento 
Record  Union,"  a  strong  railroad  paper. 


Age,  30-32]  AGAINST   SUBSIDIES  217 

becomes  more  corrupt  and  more  tyrannical,  and  less 
under  the  control  of  the  people,  with  every  extension  of 
its  powers  and  duties. 

"The}^  are  condemned  by  the  Democratic  principle 
which  forbids  the  enrichment  of  one  citizen  at  the 
expense  of  another;  and  the  giving  to  one  citizen  of  ad- 
vantages denied  to  another. 

"They  are  condemned  by  the  experience  of  the  whole 
country  which  shows  that  they  have  invariably  led  to 
waste,  extravagance  and  rascality;  that  they  inevitably 
become  a  source  of  corruption  and  a  means  of  plunder- 
ing the  people. 

"The  only  method  of  preventing  the  abuse  of  subsi- 
dies is  by  prohibiting  them  altogether.  This  is  abso- 
lutely required  by  the  lengths  to  which  the  subsidy  sys- 
tem in  its  various  shapes  has  been  carried — by  the 
effects  which  it  is  producing  in  lessening  the  comforts 
of  the  masses,  stifling  industry  with  taxation,  monopo- 
lising land  and  corrupting  the  public  service  in  all  its 
branches.     .     .     . 

"But  it  will  be  said  that  the  Democratic  party  is 
opposed  to  the  building  of  railroads?  On  the  contrary, 
should  the  Democratic  party  carry  out  its  programme 
of  free  trade  and  no  subsidies,  it  will  stimulate  the 
building  of  railroads  more  than  could  be  done  by  all 
the  subsidies  it  is  possible  to  vote.  It  will  at  once 
reduce  the  cost  of  building  railroads  many  thousand 
dollars  per  mile,  by  taking  off  the  protective  duty  now 
imposed  on  the  iron  used;  and  the  stimulus  which  the 
reduction  of  taxation  will  give  to  the  industry  of  the 
whole  country  will  create  a  neM^  demand  for  railroads 
and  vastly  increase  the  amount  of  their  business.^' 

Haight  so  thoroughly  appreciated  the  value  of  this 
pamphlet  that  he  had  a  large  edition  circulated  throughout 
the  State  as  a  campaign  document.  Bearing  Henry 
George's  name,  it  did  much  to  extend  and  strengthen  the 
reputation  the  young  man  had  already  won  as  newspaper 
editor  and  author  of  the  Chinese  article. 


218  LIFE  OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [186»-I87l 

In  June,  1871,  the  Democratic  State  convention  met  in 
San  Francisco,  and  installing  Henr}'  George  as  secretary, 
nominated  Haight  for  re-election  as  governor.  There  was 
some  friction  among  Democrats  over  the  radical  issue,  but 
the  party  generally  being  lined  up  squarely  for  a  big  fight 
on  a  straight  principle,  and  he  himself  beginning  to  think 
clearl}^  on  the  great  social  as  well  as  the  great  political 
questions,  Mr.  George  was  even  more  desirous  than  he  had 
been  two  years  before  to  run  for  the  legislature.  On 
August  10  he  secured  a  nomination  for  the  Assembly  in 
a  San  Francisco  district  and  he  made  several  speeches 
there  and  elsewhere.  Again  his  hopes  were  to  be  dashed. 
At  dinner  time  on  election  day  he  announced  to  his  wife 
that  the  indications  were  that  the  Democrats  were  carr}^- 
ing  everything,  but  late  that  evening  he  came  home  again 
in  laughing  humour.  "Why,"  he  almost  shouted,  "we 
haven't  elected  a  constable  !'' 

Haight  had  opened  and  pressed  the  fight — and  George 
had  taken  an  important  part  in  it — that  had  stamped  out 
the  policy  of  subsidies  in  California ;  but  the  great  railroad 
corporation  had  in  turn  thrown  its  gigantic  power  into  the 
election  and  had  cast  Haight  and  his  entire  party  into  the 
dust  of  defeat.  Henry  George,  whose  pen  had  been  so 
active,  was  a  shining  mark  for  the  powerful  company,  and 
his  vote  did  not  rise  to  the  average  of  the  party  Assembly 
candidates  in  San  Francisco.  His  one  personal  satisfac- 
tion in  that  hour  of  defeat  was  that  he  had  fought  and  lost 
on  a  principle. 


CHAPTER   III. 
ANSWERS    THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    SPHINX. 

1871.  Age,  33. 

'T  CANNOT  play  upon  any  stringed  instrument,  but  I 
I  can  tell  you  how  of  a  little  village  to  make  a  great  and 
glorious  city."  Thus  spake  Themistocles,  the  Athenian, 
when  asked  if  he  could  play  the  lyre.  It  was  a  reply 
seemingly  arrogant  enough;  for  was  this  not  beyond  the 
powers  of  any  mortal  man?  Do  not  communities  have 
their  birth,  their  thriving  to  maturity,  their  decline  and 
death,  as  regularly  and  immutably  as  the  individual  man 
himself  ? 

Yet  there  have  arisen  those  in  the  history  of  the  world 
who  have  dreamed  of  a  reign  of  justice  and  of  the  pro- 
longed, if  not  indeed  continuous  life  of  the  community. 
Such  a  dreamer  was  this  Californian — this  small,  erect 
young  man;  with  full,  sandy  beard;  fresh,  alert  face; 
shining  blue  eyes;  who,  careless  of  dress,  and  wrapped  in 
thought,  rode  a  mustang  pony  about  San  Francisco.  In 
the  streets  of  the  great  Eastern  city  he  had  seen  the  want 
and  suffering  that  accompany  civilisation.  It  had  made 
him  who  came  "from  the  open  West  sick  at  heart."  He 
knew  nothing  of  the  schools,  but  this  that  he  saw  he  could 
not  believe  was  the  natural  order.     What  was  that  order? 

219 


220  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEOEGE  [i871 

He  vowed  that  he  would  find  it.  And  afterwards  as  he 
rode  in  the  Oakland  foothills  came  the  flash-like  revelation 
— the  monopoly  of  the  land,  the  locking  up  of  the  store- 
house of  nature !  There  was  the  seat  of  the  evil.  He 
asked  no  one  if  he  was  right :  he  hneio  he  was  right.  Had 
he  not  come  into  the  new  country  and  grown  up  with  the 
phases  of  change?  Had  he  not  seen  this  young  com- 
munity develop  the  ills  from  which  the  older  communities 
suffered?  He  did  not  need  to  go  to  hooks  or  to  consult 
the  sages.  There  the  thing  lay  plainly  to  view  for  any 
who  would  see. 

On  Sunday  night,  March  26,  in  his  work-room  in  the 
second  story  of  the  Stevenson  Street  house,  Henry  George 
sat  down  to  write  out  the  simple  answer  to  the  riddle  of 
the  Sphinx.  When  ultimately  finished  it  made  a  pamphlet 
of  forty-eight  closely  printed  pages,  equivalent  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pages  of  an  ordinary  book.  To  it  he  gave 
the  title,  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy,  National  and 
State."  He  divided  his  subject  into  five  parts,  which  we 
shall  briefiy  review,  following  the  author's  language  wher- 
ever possible. 


The  Lands  of  the  United  States. 

The  secret  of  the  confidence  of  Americans  in  their  own 
destiny  and  the  reason  of  their  cheerful  welcome  to  the 
down-trodden  of  every  nation,  lay  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
"practically  inexhaustible"  public  domain  spreading  over 
the  great  Western  country  that  would  provide  farms  and 
homes  for  all.  But  beginning  with  the  Civil  War  period, 
a  policy  of  dissipation  of  the  public  lands  commenced,  and 


From  photugraph  tjiken  in  1871,  showing  Mr.  George  at  32, 
when  he  wrote  "  Our  Land  and  Land  Policy.'' 


Age,  32]  OUR  LAND   POLICY  221 

SO  great  have  been  the  various  kinds  of  grants,  especially 
to  the  railroads,  iij}  to  1870,  that  continuing  at  the  same 
rate,  all  the  available  arable  land  will  be  given  away  by 
1890.^  To  a  single  railroad — the  Northern  Pacific — 
25,600  acres  have  been  given  for  the  building  of  each  mile 
of  road- — land  enough  to  make  256  good  sized  American 
farms  or  4,400  such  as  in  Belgium  support  families  in 
independence  and  comfort.  Nor  was  this  given  to  the 
corporation  for  building  a  railroad  for  the  government  or 
for  the  people,  but  for  building  it  for  itself. 


11. 

The  Lands  of  California. 

In  California,  twenty-four  times  as  large  as  Massachu- 
setts and  with  but  600,000  inhabitants,  free  land  should 
be  plentiful;  yet  the  notorious  fact  is  that  so  reckless  has 
been  the  land  policy  that  the  immigrant  in  1871,  has,  as  a 
general  thing,  to  pay  a  charge  to  middlemen  before  he 
can  begin  to  cultivate  the  soil.  Already  individuals  hold 
thousands  and  hundred  of  thousands  of  acres  apiece. 
Across  many  of  these  vast  estates  a  strong  horse  cannot 
gallop  in  a  da}^,  and  one  might  travel  for  miles  and  miles 
over  fertile  ground  where  no  plow  has  ever  struck,  but 
which  is  all  owned,  and  on  which  no  settler  can  come  to 
make  himself  a  home,  unless  he  pay  such  a  tribute  as  the 
lord  of  the  domain  may  choose  to  exact. 

iThis  was  verified,  resort  being  made  at  about  1890  to  lands  (since 
Oklaboma  Territory)  whieli  in  Indian  Territory  had  been  set  a^iart  for  the 
Indian  tribes. 

2  Twenty  sections  in  the  States  and  forty  sections  in  the  Territories. 


222  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [i87i 

III. 

Land  and  Labour. 

Land,  that  part  of  the  globe's  surface  habitable  by  man, 
is  the  storehouse  from  which  he  must  draw  the  material  to 
which  his  labour  must  be  applied  for  the  satisfaction  of 
his  desires.  It  is  not  wealth,  since  wealth  is  the  product 
of  human  labour.  It  is  valuable  only  as  it  is  scarce.  Its 
value  diifers  from  that  of,  say  a  keg  of  nails,  for  the  nails 
are  the  result  of  labour,  and  when  labour  is  given  in  re- 
turn for  them  the  transaction  is  an  exchange;  whereas, 
land  is  not  the  result  of  labour,  but  the  creation  of  God, 
and  when  labour  must  be  given  for  it,  the  result  is  an 
appropriation. 

The  value  of  land  is  not  an  element  in  the  wealth  of  a 
community.  It  indicates  the  distribution  of  wealth. 
The  value  of  land  and  the  value  of  labour  must  bear  to 
each  other  an  inverse  ratio.  These  two  are  the  "terms" 
of  production,  and  while  production  remains  the  same,  to 
give  more  to  the  one  is  to  give  less  to  the  other.  The 
wealth  of  a  community  depends  upon  the  product  of  the 
community.  But  the  productive  powers  of  land  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  whether  its  price  is  low  or  high.  In  other 
words,  the  price  of  land  indicates  the  distribution  of 
wealth,  not  the  production.  The  value  of  land  is  the 
power  which  its  ownership  gives  to  appropriate  the  prod- 
uct of  labour,  and  as  a  sequence,  where  rents  (the 
share  of  the  land-owner)  are  high,  wages  (the  share 
of  the  labourer)  are  low.  And  thus  we  see  it  all  over 
the  world :  in  the  countries  where  land  is  high,  wages 
are  low,  and  where  land  is  low,  wages  are  high.  In  a  new 
country  the  value  of  labour  i-s  at  its  maximum,  the  value 


Age,  32]  LAND  AND   LABOUR  223 

of  land  at  its  minimum.  As  population  grows  and  land 
becomes  monopolised  and  increases  in  value,  the  value  of 
labour  steadily  decreases.  And  the  higher  land  and  the 
lower  wages,  the  stronger  the  tendency  towards  still  lower 
wages,  until  this  tendency  is  met  by  the  very  necessities 
of  existence.  For  the  higher  land  and  the  lower  wages, 
the  more  difficult  is  it  for  the  man  who  starts  with  nothing 
but  his  labour  to  become  his  own  employer,  and  the  more 
he  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  land-owner  and  the  capitalist. 

According  to  the  doctrine  of  rent  advanced  by  Eicardo 
and  Malthus,  the  value  of  land  should  be  determined  by 
the  advantage  which  it  possesses  over  the  least  advantage- 
ous land  in  use.  Where  use  determines  occupancy,  this 
may  be  called  the  necessary  or  real  value  of  land,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  unnecessary  or  fictitious  value  which 
results  from  speculation  in  land. 

The  difference  between  the  necessary  value  of  the  land 
of  the  United  States  and  the  aggregate  value  at  which  it 
is  held  is  enormous  and  represents  the  unnecessary  tax 
which  land  monopolisation  levies  upon  labour. 

Now  the  right  of  every  human  being  to  himself  is  the 
foundation  of  the  right  of  property.  That  which  a  man 
produces  is  rightfully  his  own,  to  keep,  to  sell,  to  give  or  to 
bequeath,  and  upon  this  sure  title  alone  can  ownership  of 
anything  rightfully  rest.  But  man  has  also  another  right, 
declared  by  the  fact  of  his  existence — the  right  to  the  use 
of  so  much  of  the  free  gifts  of  nature  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  supply  all  the  wants  of  that  existence,  and  which  he 
may  use  without  interfering  with  the  equal  rights  of  any- 
one else;  and  to  this  he  has  a  title  as  against  all  the 
world. 

To  permit  one  man  to  monopolise  the  land  from  which 
the  support  of  others  is  to  be  drawn,  is  to  permit  him 
to  appropriate  their  labour. 


224  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i871 

IV. 

The  Tendency  of  Our  Present  Land  Policy. 

The  same  causes  which  have  reduced  374,000  land-hold- 
ers of  England  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  to  30,000 
now  are  working  in  this  country.  Not  only  are  large 
bodies  of  new  lands  being  put  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  but 
a  policy  is  pursued  causing  the  absorption  of  the  small 
farms  into  large  estates. 

The  whole  present  system,  National  and  State,  tends 
to  the  concentration  of  wealth  and  the  monopolisation  of 
land.  A  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  hands  of  one 
man  pays  but  a  slight  proportion  of  the  taxes  that  are  paid 
by  the  same  sum  distributed  among  fifty ;  a  hundred  thou- 
sand acres  held  by  a  single  landholder  is  assessed  for  but 
a  fraction  of  the  amount  assessed  upon  the  hundred  thou- 
sand acres  of  six  hundred  farms. 

Concentration  is  the  law  of  the  time.  The  great  city  is 
swallowing  up  the  little  towns;  the  great  merchant  is» driv- 
ing his  poorer  rivals  out  of  business ;  a  thousand  little  deal- 
ers become  the  clerks  and  shopmen  of  the  proprietor  of  the 
marble  fronted  palace ;  a  thousand  master  workmen,  the  em- 
ployees of  one  rich  manufacturer ;  and  the  gigantic  corpora- 
tions, the  alarming  product  of  the  new  social  forces  which 
Watt  and  Stephenson  introduced  to  the  world,  are  them- 
selves being  welded  into  still  more  titanic  corporations. 

In  the  new  condition  of  things  what  chance  will  there 
be  for  a  poor  man  if  the  land  also  is  monopolised  ?  To  say 
that  the  land  of  a  country  shall  be  owned  by  a  small  class, 
is  to  say  that  that  class  shall  rule  it;  to  say  that  the  peo- 
ple of  a  country  shall  consist  of  the  very  rich  and  the  very 
poor,  is  to  say  that  republicanism  is  impossible. 


Age,  32]  PEOPOSED  LAND  POLICY  225 

V. 
What  Our  Land  Policy   Should  Be. 

When  we  consider  what  land  is ;  the  relations  between  it 
and  labour;  that  to  own  the  land  upon  which  a  man  must 
gain  his  subsistence  is  practically  to  own  the  man  himself, 
we  cannot  remain  in  doubt  as  to  what  should  be  our  policy 
in  disposing  of  our  public  lands. 

They  should  be  given  to  actual  settlers,  in  small  quan- 
tities without  charge. 

But  this  policy  would  affect  only  the  land  that  is  left. 
It  would  still  leave  the  great  belts  granted  to  railroads, 
the  vast  estates — the  large  bodies  of  land  everywhere  the 
subject  of  speculation.  Still  would  continue  the  tendency 
that  is  concentrating  ownership  in  the  older  settled  States. 

When  our  40,000,000  of  people  have  to  raise  $800,000,000 
per  year  for  public  purposes  ^  we  cannot  have  any  difficulty 
in  discovering  the  remedy  in  the  adjustment  of  taxation. 

The  feudal  system  annexed  duties  to  privileges.  One 
portion  of  the  land  defrayed  the  expenses  of  the  State ;  an- 
other portion,  those  of  the  army;  a  third,  those  of  the 
Church,  and  also  relieved  the  sick,  the  indigent  and  the 
wayworn;  while  a  fourth  portion,  the  commons,  was  free 
to  all  the  people.  The  great  debts,  the  grinding  taxation, 
are  results  of  a  departure  from  this  system.  A  recent 
English  writer  -  has  estimated  that  had  the  feudal  tenures 
been  continued,  England  would  now  have  had  at  her  com- 
mand a  completely  appointed  army  of  six  hundred  thousand 
men,  without  the  cost  of  a  penny  to  the  public  treasury. 

1  Estimate  of  Comniissioner  David  A.  Wells. 
2  "The  Strength  of  Nations,"  by  Andrew  Bisset. 


226  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [isti 

"Why  should  we  not  go  back  to  the  old  system,  and  charge 
the  expense  of  government  upon  our  lands? 

Land  taxation  does  not  bear  at  all  upon  production;  it 
adds  nothing  to  prices,  and  does  not  affect  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing. As  it  does  not  add  to  prices,  it  costs  the  people  noth- 
ing in  addition  to  Avhat  it  yields  the  Government ;  while  as 
land  cannot  be  hid  or  moved,  this  tax  can  be  collected  with 
more  ease  and  certainty,  and  with  less  expense  than  any 
other  tax ;  and  the  land-owner  cannot  shift  it  to  any  one  else. 

A  tax  upon  the  value  of  land  is  the  most  equal  of  all 
taxes,  because  the  value  of  land  is  something  that  belongs  to 
all,  and  in  taxing  land  values  we  are  merely  taking  for  the 
use  of  the  community  something  which  belongs  to  the 
community.  By  the  value  of  land  is  meant  the  value  of 
the  land  itself,  not  the  value  of  any  improvement  which 
has  been  made  upon  it — what  is  sometimes  called  in 
England  the  unearned  value. 

The  mere  holder  would  be  called  on  to  pay  just  as  much 
taxes  as  the  user  of  land.  The  owner  of  a  vacant  lot  would 
have  to  pay  as  much  as  his  neighbour  who  is  using  his. 
The  monopoliser  of  agricultural  land  would  be  taxed  as 
much  as  though  his  land  were  covered  with  improvements, 
with  crops  and  with  stock. 

Land  prices  would  fall;  land  speculation  would  receive 
its  death-blow;  land  monopolisation  would  no  longer  pay. 
Millions  and  millions  of  acres  from  which  settlers  are  now 
shut  out,  would  be  abandoned  by  their  present  owners,  or 
sold  to  settlers  on  nominal  terms. 

The  whole  weight  of  taxation  would  be  lifted  from 
productive  industry.  The  million  dollar  manufactory  and 
needle  of  the  seamstress,  the  mechanic's  cottage  and  the 
grand  hotel,  the  farmer's  plow  and  the  ocean  steamship, 
would  be  alike  untaxed.  All  would  be  free  to  buy  or  sell, 
to  make  or  save,  unannoyed  by  the  tax-gatherer. 


Age,  32] 


THE  LAND  VALUE  TAX  227 


Imagine  this  country  with  all  taxes  removed  from  pro- 
duction and  exchange!  How  demand  would  spring  up; 
how  trade  would  increase;  what  a  powerful  stimulus  would 
be  applied  to  every  branch  of  industry;  what  an  enormous 
development  of  wealth  would  take  place.  Imagine  this 
country  free  of  taxation,  with  its  unused  land  free  to  those 
who  would  use  it !  Would  there  be  many  industrious  men 
walking  the  streets,  or  tramping  over  our  roads  in  the  vain 
search  for  employment  ?  Would  there  be  in  such  a  city  as 
I^ew  York  a  hundred  thousand  men  looking  for  work ;  such 
festering  poverty  and  breeding  vice  as  make  the  man  from 
the  open  West  sick  at  heart? 

This  was  the  nature  of  the  little  book  to  the  writing  of 
which  this  Californian,  not  yet  thirty-two,  devoted  himself 
during  the  four  months  and  three  days  between  March  26 
and  July  39,  1871,  though  in  the  meantime  came  the 
Haight  convention  and  other  interruptions.  He  printed  it 
in  small  type  and  in  pamphlet  form,  for  he  had  no  money 
to  present  it  in  a  better  way.  At  first  it  made  only  thirty- 
one  pages  and  in  that  form  was  printed;  but  when  only  a 
few  copies  were  off,  he  stopped  the  press  and  expanded  the 
last  part,  so  that  as  published  the  pamphlet  made  forty- 
eight  pages  and  had  attached  to  it  a  folding  map  of  Cali- 
fornia showing  the  extent  of  the  railroad  land  grants. 

Perhaps  the  first  question  to  arise  is,  how  much  was 
Henry  George  indebted  to  others  for  the  comprehensive 
views  of  political  economy  as  set  down  in  his  little  book? 
He  answered  this  himself  in  later  years  :^ 

"When  I  first  came  to  see  what  is  the  root  of  our 
social  difficulties,  and  how  this  fundamental  wrong 
might  be  cured  in  the  easiest  way,  by  concentrating  taxes 

1  "The  Standard,"  New  York,  October  19,  1889. 


228  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i87l 

on  land  values,  I  had  worked  out  the  whole  thing  for 
myself  without  conscious  aid  that  I  can  remember, 
unless  it  might  have  been  the  light  I  got  from  Bisset's 
'Strength  of  N^ations'  as  to  the  economic  character  of 
the  feudal  system.  When  I  published  'Our  Land  and 
Land  Policy/  I  had  not  even  heard  of  the  Physiocrats 
and  the  impot  unique.  But  I  knew  that  if  it  was  really 
a  star  I  had  seen,  others  must  have  seen  it  too." 


While  Eicardo  and  Malthus  are  credited  with  the  for- 
mulation of  the  law  of  rent;  while  John  Stuart  Mill's 
proposal  to  compensate  land-owners  is  deprecated,  and  his 
phrase  "unearned  increment,"'  is  spoken  of  as  "the  un- 
earned value  of  land,"  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume 
that  Henry  George  was  indebted  to  others  further  than 
this,  even  at  points  where  there  chanced  to  be  a  similarity 
of  thought.  In  his  last  book,^  discussing  the  concurrent 
writings  of  Adam  Smith  and  the  French  Physiocrats  and 
the  probably  independent  thought  of  Smith,  where  his 
utterances  closely  resembled  that  of  the  latter,  Mr.  George 
has  drawn  the  instance  of  his  own  ease. 

"It  is  a  mistake  to  which  the  critics  who  are  them- 
selves mere  compilers  are  liable,  to  think  that  men 
must  draw  from  one  another  to  see  the  same  truths  or 
to  fall  into  the  same  errors.  Truth  is,  in  fact,  a  rela- 
tion of  things,  which  is  to  be  seen  independently  be- 
cause it  exists  independently.  Error  is  perhaps  more 
likely  to  indicate  transmission  from  mind  to  mind;  yet 
even  that  usually  gains  its  strength  and  permanence 
from  misapprehensions  that  in  themselves  have  inde- 
pendent plausibility.  Such  relations  of  the  stars  as  that 
appearance  in  the  North  which  we  call  the  Dipper  or 
Great  Bear,  or  as  that  in  the  South  which  we  call  the 
Southern   Cross,   are  seen  by  all  who   scan  the  starry 

1  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy."  Book  II,  Chap,  v.,  pp.  162-164. 


Age,  32]  INDEPENDENT  THOUGHT  229 

heavens,  though  the  names  by  which  men  know  them 
are  various.  And  to  think  that  the  sun  revolves  around 
the  earth  is  an  error  into  which  the  testimony  of  their 
senses  must  cause  all  men  independently  to  fall,  until 
the  first  testimony  of  the  senses  is  corrected  by  reason 
applied  to  wider  observations. 

"In  what  is  most  important,  I  have  come  closer  to  the 
views  of  Quesnay  and  his  followers  than  did  Adam 
Smith,  who  knew  the  men  personally.  But  in  my  case 
there  was  certainly  no  derivation  from  them.  I  well  re- 
call the  day  when,  checking  my  horse  on  a  rise  that 
overlooks  San  Francisco  Bay,  the  commonplace  reply 
of  a  passing  teamster  to  a  commonplace  question,  crys- 
tallised, as  by  lightning-flash,  my  brooding  thoughts 
into  coherency,  and  I  there  and  then  recognised  the 
natural  order — one  of  those  experiences  that  make  those 
who  have  had  them  feel  thereafter  that  they  can  vaguely 
appreciate  what  mystics  and  poets  have  called  the  'ec- 
static vision.'  Yet  at  that  time  I  had  never  heard  of  the 
Physiocrats,  or  even  read  a  line  of  Adam  Smith. 

"Afterwards,  with  the  great  idea  of  the  natural  order 
in  my  head,  I  printed  a  little  book,  'Our  Land  and  Land 
Policy,'  in  which  I  urged  that  all  taxes  should  be  laid 
on  the  value  of  land,  irrespective  of  improvements. 
Casually  meeting  on  a  San  Francisco  street  a  scholarly 
lawyer,  A.  B.  Douthitt,  we  stopped  to  chat,  and  he  told 
me  that  what  I  had  in  my  little  book  proposed  was  what 
the  French  'Economists'  a  hundred  years  before  had 
proposed. 

"I  forget  many  things,  but  the  place  where  I  heard 
this,  and  the  tones  and  attitude  of  the  man  who  told 
me  of  it,  are  photographed  on  my  memory.  For,  when 
you  have  seen  a  truth  that  those  around  you  do  not 
see,  it  is  one  of  the  deepest  of  pleasures  to  hear  of 
others  who  have  seen  it.  This  is  true,  even  though  these 
others  were  dead  years  before  you  were  born.  For  the 
stars  that  we  of  to-day  see  when  we  look  were  here  to 
be  seen  hundreds  and  thousands  of  years  ago.  They 
shine  on.  Men  come  and  go,  in  their  generations,  like 
the  generations  of  the  ants." 


230  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [i^sti 

Ex-State  Senator  John  ]\I.  Days  of  California  became 
acquainted  with  Mr.  George  soon  after  the  pamplilet  was 
written  and  bears  testimony  on  the  subject : 

"In  1871  I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
and  introduced  a  set  of  resolutions  in  favour  of  the 
land  of  the  United  States  being  held  for  the  people 
thereof.  In  preparing  my  speech  I  came  across  Henry 
George's  pamphlet  'Our  Land  and  Land  Policy'  and  I 
quoted  two  whole  pages.  I  first  met  Henry  George  per- 
sonally in  the  month  of  May,  1872,  and  I  loaned  him 
all  the  writings  of  Bronterre  O'Brien,  together  with 
Gamage's  history  of  chartism.  He  returned  them 
within  so  short  a  time  that  he  could  not  have  had  time 
to  read  them  carefully,  let  alone  study  them.  He  told 
me  that  when  he  wrote  the  pamphlet  he  had  never  read 
or  seen  any  work  on  the  land  question." 

But  without  direct  or  indirect  statements  from  Mr. 
George  or  any  one  else  as  to  the  independence  of  his 
thought,  a  striking  proof  of  it  might  be  found  in  his  writ- 
ings themselves.  He  has  frankly  stated  ^  that  in  the 
spring  of  1869,  when  writing  the  Chinese  article,  "wishing 
to  know  what  political  economy  had  to  say  about  the  causes 
of  wages,"  he  "went  to  the  Philadelphia  Library,  looked 
over  John  Stuart  Mill's  'Political  Economy,'  and  accept- 
ing Mill's  view  without  question,"  based  his  article  upon  it. 
Yet  in  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy,"  in  dealing  with  the 
cause  of  wages,  he  rejected  Mill's  view  and  gave  a  differ- 
ent explanation  to  the  one  assumed  in  the  Chinese  article. 
He,  in  fact,  took  up  and  developed  something  he  had 
perceived  months  before  the  Chinese  article  was  thought 
of  and  which  he  had  set  forth  in  his  "Overland  Monthly'" 
article,  "What  the  Eailroad  Will  Bring  Us,"  in  the  fall  of 

I  "'The  Science  of  Political  Ecouumy, "     Book  II, 
Chap,  viii,  pp.  200,  201. 


Age,  32] 


WAGES  AND  INTEREST 


231 


1868.     Passages  from  his  former  and  his  later  work  set 
side  by  side,  show  the  development  of  his  thought: 


''Overland"  Article,  1868. 

"For  3'ears  the  higli  rate 
of  interest  and  the  high  rate 
of  wages  prevailing  in  Cali- 
fornia have  been  special 
subjects  for  the  lamenta- 
tion of  a  certain  school  of 
political  economists,  who 
could  not  see  that  high 
wages  and  high  interest 
were  indications  that  the 
natural  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try was  not  yet  monopo- 
lised, that  great  opportuni- 
ties were  open  to  all." 


"Land  Policy,"  1871. 

"The  value  of  land  and 
of  labour  must  bear  to  each 
other  an  inverse  ratio. 
These  two  are  the  'terms' 
of  production,  and  while 
production  remains  tlie 
same,  to  give  more  to  the 
one,  is  to  give  less  to  the 
other.  The  value  of  land  is 
the  power  which  its  owner- 
ship gives  to  appro|)riate 
the  product  of  labour,  and, 
as  a  sequence,  where  rents 
(the  share  of  the  land- 
owner) are  high,  wages 
(the  share  of  the  labourer) 
are  low.  And  thus  we  see 
it  all  over  the  world,  in  the 
countries  where  land  is 
high,  wages  are  low,  and 
where  land  is  low,  wages 
are  high.  In  a  new  country 
the  value  of  labour  is  at 
first  at  its  maximum,  the 
value  of  land  at  its  mini- 
mum. As  population  grows 
and  land  becomes  monojjo- 
lised  and  increases  in  value, 
the  value  of  labour  steadily 
decreases." 


The  truth  is  that  primitive  conditions  were  all  about 
Henry  George.  The  miners  throughout  the  early  Cali- 
fornia placers  commonly  spoke  of  washing  their  "wages" 


232  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [i87i 

out  of  the  soil,  and  there  was  a  universal  if  unwritten  law 
among  them  that  "claims"  should  be  limited  in  size  and 
that  ownership  should  be  conditioned  upon  use.  In  the 
agricultural  regions,  and  even  in  some  of  the  towns, 
"squatters"  had  constantly  asserted  the  principle  com- 
monly recognised  through  the  whole  frontier  country  that 
any  man  was  free  to  use  land  that  was  not  already  actually 
in  use.  The  passage  of  statutes  permitting  the  adding  of 
mining  claim  to  claim  and  promoting  monopolisation  in 
the  agricultural  regions,  accompanied  by  enormous  grants 
to  comparatively  few  individuals,  brought  a  keen  sense  of 
scarcit}'  of  land  to  a  people  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
think  of  practically  "all  out-doors"  as  being  free. 

With  a  fresh  young  people,  full  of  self-confidence  and 
free  from  restraints  and  traditions,  here  were  all  the  con- 
ditions needed  to  quicken  original  thought — thought  that 
should  go  back  to  first  principles.  Henry  George  did  not 
therefore  have  to  go  to  books  for  his  political  economy. 
His  keen  perception,  and  active,  analytical  mind  found 
what  he  hailed  as  the  fundamental  and  eternal  truths  of 
social  order  written  so  that  all  might  read  them  in  the 
primary  conditions  of  the  new  country.  His  political 
economy  he  got  from  nature  herself. 

But  there  was  one  small  passage  in  the  pamphlet  which 
should  not  be  overlooked.  Of  this  Ex-Senator  Days  has 
since  said: 


"In  'Our  Land  and  Land  Policy'  Henry  George  made 
a  plea  for  private  property  in  land.  In  August,  1872, 
I  became  president  of  a  Lyceum  in  San  Francisco  which 
discussed  various  questions  every  Sunday  afternoon.  I 
invited  him  to  open  on  the  land  question.  In  his  speech 
he  still  favoured  private  property  in  land.  In  closing 
the  meeting  I  made  a  few  remarks  in  which  I  observed 
that  Mr.  George  said  that  he  favoured  private  property 


Age,  32]  PROPERTY  IN  LAND  233 

in  land,  but  that  he  made  a  mistake  in  so  saying,  for 
every  argument  he  made  on  the  question  showed  that 
he  was  opposed  to  it.  From  that  day  to  the  day  of  his 
death  Mr.  George  openly  opposed  by  word  as  well  as 
argument  private  property  in  land." 


The  passage  of  the  pamphlet  to  which  the  Senator  re- 
fers runs : 

"It  by  no  means  follows  that  there  should  be  no  such 
thing  as  property  in  land,  but  merely  that  there  should 
be  no  monopolisation — no  standing  between  the  man 
who  is  willing  to  work  and  the  field  which  nature  offers 
for  his  labour.  For  while  it  is  true  that  the  land  of 
a  country  is  the  free  gift  of  the  Creator  to  all  the  peo- 
ple of  that  country,  to  the  enjoyment  of  which  each  has 
an  equal  natural  right,  it  is  also  true  that  the  recognition 
of  private  ownership  in  land  is  necessary  to  its  proper 
use — is,  in  fact,  a  condition  of  civilisation.  When  the 
millennium  comes,  and  the  old  savage,  selfish  instincts 
have  died  out  of  men,  land  may  perhaps  be  held  in  com- 
mon ;  but  not  till  then." 


The  idea  that  Mr.  George  wished  to  convey  was  the 
necessity  of  securing  improvements,  which  could  not  be 
the  case  if  titles  were  to  be  confiscated  and  the  State  were 
to  resume  actual  possession  of  all  the  land.  But  seeing 
in  the  instance  of  Senator  Days  the  wrong  idea  his  lan- 
guage expressed,  when  writing  "Progress  and  Poverty"  he 
changed  it  materially,  to  wit : 

"What  is  necessary  for  the  use  of  land  is  not  its 
private  ownership,  but  the  security  of  improvements. 
.  .  .  The  complete  recognition  of  common  rights  to 
land  need  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  complete  recog- 
nition of  individual  right  to  improvements  or  produce. 
.     .     .     I  do  not  propose  either  to  purchase  or  to  con- 


234  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1871 

fiscate  j)rivate  property  in  land.  The  first  would  be 
unjust;  the  second,  needless.  Let  the  individuals  who 
now  hold  it  still  retain,  if  they  want  to,  possession  of 
what  they  are  pleased  to  call  their  land.  Let  them  con- 
tinue to  call  it  their  land.  Let  them  huj  and  sell,  and 
bequeath  and  devise  it.  We  may  safely  leave  them  the 
shell,  if  we  take  the  kernel.  It  is  not  necessary  to  con- 
fiscate land;  it  is  only  necessary  to  co7ifiscate  rent."^ 


This  Days  incident  and  others  like  it  bringing  to  Mr. 
George  a  realisation  of  obscurities  of  his  language  in  some 
instances  and  of  his  thoughts  in  others,  made  him  hence- 
forward most  patient  with  those  who,  sincerely  striving 
to  comprehend  his  ideas,  floundered  around  in  self-made 
confusions;  for  with  all  his  powers,  no  one  more  fully  ap- 
preciated the  difficulty  of  clear  expression,  and  before  that, 
of  clear  thinking,  than  Mr.  George  himself. 

If  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy"  was  sent  to  John 
Stuart  Mill,  the  acknowledged  master  political  economist 
of  the  day,  there  is  nothing  to  show  it.  But  E.  T.  Peters, 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  at  Washington,  whom  George 
had  quoted  and  to  whom  he  presented  a  copy,  wrote 
strongly  commending  it;  Horace  White  of  the  "Chicago 
Tribune"  wrote  that  George  was  "entitled  to  l^e  ranked  as 
an  economist" ;  while  David  A.  Wells,  New  York  Commis- 
sioner for  the  Eevision  of  the  Revenue  Laws,  whose  report 
had  been  cited,  said,  "I  see  you  have  enunciated  a  prin- 
ciple relative  to  value  of  land  and  pauperism  which  strikes 
me  as  original  and  well  put."  But  beyond  a  few  such 
letters  as  these,  the  pamphlet  got  little  attention.  Nor 
even  in  California  did  it  awaken  the  public  recognition  for 
which  he  may  have  looked.     "Something  like  a  thousand 

1  "Progress  and  Poverty."     Book  VIII,  Chaps,  i  and  ii, 
(Memorial  Edition,  pp.  396,  397  and  403). 


Age,  32]  AUSTRALIAN   BALLOT  235 

copies  were  sold,"  he  said  towards  the  end  of  liis  life/  "but 
I  saw  that  to  command  attention  the  work  must  be  done 
more  thoroughly."  The  work  was  done  more  thoroughly 
eight  years  later  when  "Progress  and  Poverty"  was 
written. 

Two  articles  by  Henry  George  appeared  in  the  "Over- 
land Montliiy"'  during  this  year  of  1871,  one  in  February 
entitled,  "How  Jack  Breeze  Missed  Being  a  Pasha,"  and 
the  other  in  December  entitled,  "Bribery  in  Elections,"  in 
which,  pointing  at  the  shameless  corruption  at  the  polls 
in  the  fall  election  when  Haight  was  overwhelmed  by  rail- 
road mone}',  George  advocated  the  adoption  in  California 
of  the  Australian  ballot  system.  But  these  efforts  were 
trifling  compared  with  the  pamphlet,  "Our  Land  and  Land 
Policy."  This  latter  was  set  aside  for  a  time  in  a  new 
era  of  newspaper  activity. 

1  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy."     Book  II,  Chap,  viii,  p.  201. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE   "SAN   FRANCISCO   EVENING   POST." 

1871-1875.  Age,  32-36. 

IT  was  in  1859,  before  he  came  of  age  and  while  setting 
type  on  the  "Home  Journal,"  that,  on  an  alarm  of  fire 
one  day  which  brought  most  of  the  people  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood into  the  street,  Henry  George  found  himself 
wedged  in  a  doorway  with  a  strange  printer  from  another 
part  of  the  building,  both  trying  to  pass  through  at  the 
same  moment.  Seven  years  later  on  meeting  liim  again, 
George  learned  that  this  man  was  William  M.  Hinton. 
George  was  then  about  to  set  off  on  the  Mexican  filibus- 
tering expedition  and  Hinton  deprecated  his  going,  be- 
cause George  would  imperil  his  life  and  most  likely  cut  off 
the  means  of  his  family's  support.  That  commenced  the 
friendship,  and  when  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy"  had 
been  published,  Hinton  was  one  of  those  to  whom  the 
author  gave  a  copy.  Born  in  England,  in  1830,  nearly 
ten  years  before  George's  birth,  he  was  brought  to  the 
United  States  as  a  child,  his  father,  I.  T.  Hinton,  coming 
to  Philadelphia  in  1832  to  sell  a  history  of  the  United 
States  written  by  himself  and  his  brother,  John  Howard 
Hinton.  George  wavered  during  the  summer  of  1871  be- 
tween remaining  in  California  and  going  to  New  York 
or  Philadelphia  to  establish  himself,  when  he  chanced  one 

236 


Age,  32-36]  A  NEWSPAPER   DEPARTURE  237 

da}^  to  talk  with  Hinton,  of  which  conversation  the  latter 
says: 

"Mr.  George  was  talking  of  going  East  to  settle.  I 
had  read  his  pamphlet,  'Our  Land  and  Land  Policy,' 
and  was  taken  with  it,  believing  its  author  showed 
marked  ability.  In  talking  with  him  about  it  and  other 
things,  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not  start  a  newspaper. 
He  replied  that  he  had  no  money;  to  which  I  said  that 
anybody  could  start  one  with  money,  but  that  the  diffi- 
cult and  commendable  achievement  was  to  start  one 
without  it.  I  had  no  thought  about  entering  upon  such 
an  enterprise  myself,  as  I  was  getting  a  good  living  out 
of  the  job-printing  establishment  of  Mahan  &  Co.,  of 
which  firm  I  was  a  partner.  I  made  the  suggestion 
to  Mr.  George  simply  because  at  the  time  he  had  no 
employment.  Yet  as  a  result  of  this  casual  conversa- 
tion, the  idea  catching  fire  in  his  mind,  I  found  myself 
before  long  getting  into  the  thing,  though  even  then  I 
purposed  to  stay  only  until  it  should  be  set  on  its  feet, 
planning  then  to  withdraw.  Three  of  us  entered  into 
an  equal  partnership — George,  who  was  to  be  editor; 
myself,  who  was  to  superintend  the  printing;  and  A.  H. 
Rapp,  a  member  of  my  job-printing  firm,  who  was  to 
be  business  manager.  We  got  together  about  $1,800 
and  this  and  some  more  that  we  got  in  by  the  sale  in 
advance  of  delivery  routes,  constituted  all  the  capital 
we  had  with  which  to  start  a  daily  newspaper.  We  lost 
no  time,  and  on  Monday,  December  4,  1871,  the  first 
copy  of  the  'Daily  Evening  Post'  appeared,  with  Hin- 
ton,  Eapp  &  Co.  as  publishers,  and  Henry  George  as 
editor.  Our  office  was  at  605  Montgomery  Street,  west 
side,  a  few  doors  north  of  Clay." 

Following  the  example  of  very  successful  newspapers  in 
the  East,  the  price  was  set  at  one  cent  a  copy,  it  being 
the  first  penny  paper  west  of  the  Eocky  Mountains.  In- 
deed, the  cent  piece  was  not  in  commercial  use  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  so  that  it  had  to  be  introduced  specially; 


238  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1871-1875 

which  was  accomplished  by  inducing  the  largest  finan- 
cial institution  in  the  Western  country — the  Bank  of  Cali- 
fornia— to  import  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  pennies 
on  the  presumption  of  their  usefulness  in  a  multitude  of 
minor  commercial  transactions.  Then  San  Francisco  was 
astonished  by  the  spectacle  of  newsboys  crying  the  new 
paper  on  the  streets  for  a  cent  a  copy,  and  ready  with  a 
large  supply  of  pennies  to  make  change.  The  novelty  of 
the  thing  caused  people  to  buy  the  little  "Post."  For 
the  paper,  consisting  of  four  pages,  was  onh'  eleven  by 
fourteen  inches,  and  the  type  very  small.  The  early  num- 
bers contained  little  advertising  and  telegraphic,  the  space 
being  filled  with  local  news  and  editorials,  written  in  short, 
sharp,  direct  st3'le.  In  its  salutatory  it  said :  "In  the  higher, 
wider  sense  the  'Post'  will  be  Democratic;  that  is,  it  will 
oppose  centralisation  and  monopolies  of  all  kinds.  But  it 
will  be  the  organ  of  no  faction,  clique  or  party.  It  will 
endeavour  to  deal  with  all  questions  without  cowardly  re- 
serve, but  with  firmness  and  candour;  and  whether  it 
praises  or  censures,  it  will  be  without  reference  to  party 
lines  or  j^arty  affiliations." 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life  Henry  George  told  of  the 
early  history  of  the  "Post."^ 

"The  vigour  of  the  little  paper  attracted  attention 
and  it  began  to  run  to  as  large  a  circulation  as  could 
be  obtained  with  our  press  facilities.  We  could  get 
only  one  double  flat-bed  press.  An  oifer  soon  came 
from  another  newspaper  man,  H.  W.  Thomson,  now 
dead,  to  buy  at  a  good  price  a  fourth  interest.  The 
third  partner,  Eapp,  wanted  to  sell  his  share,  and  he 
did  sell  it  for  about  $2,500.  Mr.  Hinton  and  I  con- 
cluded that  we  had  better  withdraw,  and  we  sold  our 
interests,  each  getting  $2,700.     All  three  of  the  original 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


Age,  32-36]  SOLD  AND  BOUGHT  AGAIN  239 

partners  had  thus  sokl  to  Thomson.  This  happened 
within  four  months  and  a  half  after  the  first  issue  ap- 
peared. But  no  sooner  was  the  polic}^  changed  than  the 
circulation  of  the  'Post'  dropped,  and  in  less  than 
sixty  days  Thomson  offered  the  paper  to  us  for  a  merely 
nominal  sum.  This  Mr.  Hinton  and  I  accepted,  and 
Frank  Mahan,  another  printer,  was  given  a  small  in- 
terest. I  went  along  editing  the  paper,  which  imme- 
diately started  to  grow." 


A  feature  that  was  quickly  recognised  by  the  public 
as  indicating  the  independence  of  the  new  journal  was  its 
treatment  of  the  land  and  taxation  questions.  Frequently 
quotations  were  made  from  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy" 
and  more  frequently  there  were  editorials  favouring  the 
taxation  of  land  values  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  things. 
These  editorials  were  always  short  and  direct.  This  fea- 
ture grew  strong  enough  to  l)ecome  the  objective  point 
with  the  ojaposition  press,  which  ridiculed  "George's  fad.'* 
But  fad  or  no  fad,  the  editor  kept  persistently  talking 
of  it  and  snapped  up  every  challenge  to  discuss  it  with 
other  papers.  "When  in  May,  1873,  John  Stuart  Mill  died 
at  Avignon,  France,  the  "Post"  paid  a  fine  editorial  tribute 
to  the  passing  of  this  "greatest  living  master  of  political 
economy,"  making  commendation  of  the  decision  of  those 
having  the  matter  in  hand  that  instead  of  raising  a  statue 
to  him  in  America,  they  should  publish  a  memorial  edi- 
tion of  his  writings — "his  best  monument." 

In  national  politics  the  paper  was  strongly  opposed  to 
Grant,  "carpet-bag  reconstruction"  and  centralisation,  and 
warmly  advocated  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  of 
Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  "New  York  Tribune,"  who, 
although  formerly  a  zealous  supporter  of  war  measures, 
now  wished  to  ignore  sectionalism  and  bind  up  the  na- 
tion's wounds.     Mr.  George  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the 


240  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1871-1875 

Democratic  jSTational  Convention  to  meet  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  early  in  July,  1872.  He  went  East  by  way 
of  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  sent  his  family  just  be- 
fore starting  the  "Post,"  on  account  of  his  wife's  ill 
health.  Thence,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  he  went  to 
Baltimore,  where  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  Cali- 
fornia delegation,  Ex-Governor  Downey  being  chair- 
man. On  July  10,  1872,  Greeley  was  nominated  unani- 
mously and  a  few  days  later  the  California  delegation 
visited  the  candidate  on  his  estate  at  Chappaqua,  West- 
chester County,  N.  Y.,  George  writing  to  his  paper  a  long 
signed  description  of  the  occasion,  closing  with  the  words : 
''We  all  felt  .  .  .  that  in  this  sturdy,  benignant  old 
man  we  had  a  candidate  round  whom  we  could  all  rally, 
and  who  fittingly  represented  the  grandest  idea  of  the 
time — the  idea  of  reconciliation." 

Then  Mr.  George  hastened  back  to  San  Francisco  to 
plunge  editorially  into  the  campaign.  In  this,  as  in  all 
his  fights,  he  grew  more  and  more  hopeful  as  his  blood 
warmed  in  the  conflict;  but  his  wife,  who  now  was  grow- 
ing to  understand  public  affairs  and  therefore  becoming 
more  his  counsellor  in  such  matters,  was  not  so  sure,  writ- 
ing October  8,  on  the  day  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  elec- 
tion :  "This  is  the  day  that  in  a  measure  determines  Gree- 
ley's fate.  I  am  not  at  all  sanguine,  but  I  won't  give  up 
even  if  the  Republicans  win  this  contest."  Greeley  was 
badly  beaten;  and  George  was  sorely  disappointed.  But 
he  was  not  the  man  to  repine.  At  once  he  was  up  and 
doing  on  another  line. 

Meanwhile  in  August,  when  less  than  eight  and  a  half 
months  old,  the  "Post"  had  been  increased  in  size  and 
its  price  advanced  to  two  cents;  and  a  month  and  a  half 
later,  enlarged  to  the  size  of  the  ordinary  newspaper  and 
the  charge  for  single  copies  made  five  cents,  "to  accommo- 


Age,  32-36]  SHIP   "SUNRISE"   CASE  241 

date  the  price  to  the  currency,"  the  attempt  to  in- 
troduce the  one  cent  piece  proving  after  a  long  trial 
a  failure. 

As  might  be  imagined,  a  newspaper  that  saw  evils  to 
oppose  and  did  not  hesitate  to  oppose  them,  could  find 
plenty  of  work  to  do.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  "Post" 
was  kept  busy  with  fights  of  one  kind  or  another.  One  of 
these  attracted  wide  attention.  It  was  the  case  of  the 
ship  Sunrise,  which  sailing  from  New  York  harbour  in 
May,  1873,  had  a  passage  to  San  Francisco  marked  by 
such  cruelty  towards  the  crew  by  the  captain  and  first  mate 
that  three  of  the  men  jumped  overboard  and  were  drowned. 
Attempts  were  made  to  hush  up  the  matter  when  the  ship 
reached  the  Golden  Gate,  but  Mr.  George  learned  of  it 
and  at  once  demanded  a  prosecution.  The  captain  and 
first  mate  fled,  but  upon  the  "Post's"  offering  a  reward, 
were  apprehended  and  brought  to  trial,  the  newspaper 
engaging  special  counsel.  The  officers  were  convicted  to 
long  terms  of  imprisonment.  The  "Post"  subsequently 
took  up  some  less  flagrant  cases  of  maritime  brutality  and 
established  itself  as  a  champion  of  sailor's  rights. 

That  personal  danger  attended  the  editing  of  an  ag- 
gressive Western  newspaper  has  been  often  attested,  and 
Mr.  George  had  his  share.  Ex-Judge  Eobert  Ferral,  then 
one  of  the  editorial  writers  on  the  "Post,"  says  of  one  of 
these  cases: 


"I  went  with  Henry  George  to  attend  an  investigation 
of  the  House  of  Correction,  or  Industrial  School,  which 
was  in  charge  of  a  brute  named  George  F.  Harris.  At 
the  gate  stood  the  redoubtable  Harris,  with  his  hand 
on  his  pistol,  looking  more  like  a  pirate  than  the  super- 
intendent of  a  public  institution.  Without  the  least 
hesitation  Mr.  George  walked  right  up  to  him,  looked 
the  burly  ruffian  straight  in  the  eyes,  and  passed  into 


242  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1871-1875 

the  yard  without  a  word.  All  through  that  investiga- 
tion Harris  avoided  the  steady,  indignant  gaze  of  the 
brave  little  man  who  pressed  his  charges  of  brutality 
and  drove  him  from  his  position  and  out  of  the  city/' 


Another  instance  of  personal  danger  arose  out  of  the 
Tarpey  case  in  the  beginning  of  1873.  Matthew  Tarpey, 
a  brutal  but  affluent  land-owner  in  Monterey  County,  quar- 
relled with  an  unoffending  woman  named  Nicholson  about 
a  tract  of  land.  He  dug  a  pit,  la}'  in  it  for  hours  waiting 
for  her,  and  shot  her  in  the  back  and  killed  her  when 
she  took  alarm  and  tried  to  run  away.  The  country 
around  became  fiercely  excited,  and  more  so  when  it  was 
rumoured  that  Tarpey's  wealth  would  clear  him  as  others 
had  been  cleared  of  late,  and  that  the  first  step  would  be 
to  move  him  to  another  locality  for  trial.  Word  went  out 
at  once  that  the  citizens  would  stop  that  and  take  the  mat- 
ter in  hand  themselves,  and  despatches  came  to  San  Fran- 
cisco that  Tarpey  would  be  lynched.  John  Y.  George, 
Henry's  brother,  was  engaged  in  the  business  office  of  the 
"Post"  and  was  a  witness  of  what  followed. 

"Tarpey  money  and  political  influence  were  strong 
enough  to  hush  the  matter  up  in  the  other  newspapers, 
but  the  'Post'  published  the  news  of  the  intended  lynch- 
ing, and  an  editorial  saying  that  there  would  be  no  re- 
grets if  the  people  should  deal  out  to  him  the  same  mea- 
sure he  had  meted  out  to  others,  and  hang  him  to  the 
nearest  tree,  as  a  'ghastly  evidence'  that  there  was  'still 
a  sense  of  justice  in  California.'  Tarpey's  relatives  in 
San  Francisco  and  others  of  influence  came  to  the  office 
to  implore  the  editor  to  say  no  more,  and  several  anony- 
mous letters  were  received  threatening  violence  if  he 
did  not  stop,  but  he  would  not  change  his  course,  and 
next  day,  following  news  of  Tarpey's  death,  he  published 
as  a  leader  an  editorial  a  column  and  a  quarter  long  de- 


Age,  32-36]  WESTERN  LYNCH   LAW  243 

nouncing  Tarpey's  deed  and  justifying  the  lynching.^ 
The  effect  of  this  was  lost  by  the  buying  up  of  a  large 
part  of  the  edition  of  the  paper  by  the  Tarpey  partisans. 
"Next  day  a  man,  I  think  named  Donally,  came  to 
the  office  inquiring  for  the  editor.  My  brother  was  out 
and  Donally  hung  around  on  the  sidewalk.  When  my 
brother  returned  Donally  approached  and  asked  him  if 
the  article  of  the  day  represented  his  sentiments.  My 
brother  answered  that  it  not  only  represented  his  senti- 
ments, but  that  he  himself  wrote  it,  whereupon  Donally 
impeached  the  article  and  called  its  author  a  liar.  My 
brother  struck  him  in  the  face,  though  Donally  was  a 
much  larger  and  heavier  man.  The  bystanders  inter- 
fered and  Donally  left.  Nothing  came  of  this,  although 
there  was  talk  for  a  time  of  violence  to  the  editor  of  the 
'Post.'  But  the  paper  did  not  change  its  front  and 
short  editorials  on  the  Tarpey  matter  kept  appearing." 

John  V.  George  tells  of  another  occurrence  that  almost 
resulted  in  the  shooting  of  the  aggressive  editor.     It  grew 

1  Touching  this  method  of  effecting  justice,  the  editorial  said  :  "  Lynch 
law  is  a  fearful  thing.  It  is  only  better  than  the  crime  it  is  invoked  to 
repress  in  that  the  impiilses  of  the  many  are  generally  truer  and  purer 
than  the  passions  of  the  individual.  It  is  liable  to  terrible  mistakes,  and 
it  strikes  at  the  very  foundations  upon  which  society  is  organised.  To 
say  that  even  in  a  case  like  this  Lynch  law  is  justified  is  to  admit  that 
the  regular  and  legal  methods  by  which  society  protects  itself  have  failed, 
that  our  laws  in  their  practical  workings  are  but  a  snare  and  a  delusion, 
and  that  justice  in  our  courts  is  but  a  matter  of  chance.  .  .  .  The  people 
of  Monterey  hung  Tarpey  themselves  because  they  could  not  trust  the 
law  to  do  it.  But  it  will  not  do  to  dismiss  the  case  with  the  simple  re- 
flection that  justice  has  been  done.  There  is  a  deep  moral  in  it,  which 
we  must  heed,  unless  we  are  willing  to  drift  back  to  a  condition  little 
short  of  anarchy.  And  there  is  a  moral  in  it,  too,  for  law  breakers  as 
well  as  law  makers  —  not  for  murderers  alone,  but  for  thieving  officials, 
corrupt  representatives,  and  the  robbers  of  all  grades  who  make  of  law  a 
protection  and  means  of  escajie.  Our  society  is  not  too  highly  organised 
to  revert  upon  great  provocation  to  first  principles,  and  to  do  for  itself, 
what  its  ministers  and  administrators  refuse  to  do."— "Evening  Post," 
March  18,  1873. 


244  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1871-1875 

out  of  the  paper's  arraignment  of  city  Chief  of  Police 
Crowle}',  whom  it  had  helped  to  office,  but  now  hotly  de- 
nounced for  not  closing  the  gambling  hells  and  clearing 
out  the  crime-infested  Chinese  quarter,  as  commanded  by 
city  ordinances. 

"It  was  in  May,  1873,  two  months  after  the  Tarpey 
case.  Accompanied  by  Mr.  Hinton,  his  partner,  and  by 
City  Supervisor  Stuart  Menzies,  Port  Warden  Joseph 
Austin,  and  Daniel  O'Connell  of  the  'Post'  staff,  my 
brother,  one  afternoon  after  the  paper  had  gone  to  press 
went  to  the  Mint  saloon  and  restaurant,  on  Conunercial 
Street,  a  resort  for  lawyers  and  politicians.  As  they 
entered,  James  Gannon,  an  ex-detective  and  supporter 
of  Crowley,  tapped  my  brother  on  the  shoulder,  saying 
that  he  wanted  to  speak  with  him  privately.  My  brother 
stepped  aside  with  him,  when  Gannon  said,  'Let  up  on 
Crowley  or  there  will  be  trouble.'  and  when  asked  what 
he  meant,  the  ex-detective  seized  my  brother  by  the 
neck  with  one  hand  and  struck  him  in  the  face  with 
the  other.  My  brother  tried  to  strike  back,  when  Gan- 
non reached  down  and  drew  a  revolver.  But  before  he 
could  fire,  Menzies,  a  very  strong  man,  caught  his  wrist 
and  held  the  weapon  down,  while  he  and  Supervisor 
McCarthy,  who  was  in  the  place  at  the  time,  pulled  Gan- 
non away.  It  was  proposed  at  first  to  bring  Gannon  to 
trial,  but  the  matter  was  dropped  and  he  afterwards  be- 
came very  sorry  for  his  part  in  it." 

William  A.  Plunkitt,  a  school  director  in  the  early 
seventies  and  supported  l)y  the  "Post"  in  an  investigation 
into  a  big  scandal  in  the  purchasing  of  school  supplies, 
has  since  said: 

"Under  Henry  George's  management  the  'Post'  was 
a  bold,  fearless,  reform  paper.  The  standard  of  po- 
litical morality  or  public  morals  in  San  Francisco 
at   that    time   was   very   low.     While   many   good   men 


Age,  32-3C]  CONTEMPORARY  ANECDOTES  245 

held  public  official  positions,  quite  a  number  of  impor- 
tant places  in  the  municipal  government  were  filled 
by  characterless  and  unscrupulous  demagogues.  Mr. 
George  neither  respected  nor  feared  that  kind  of  public 
functionary.  He  lashed  them  as  with  'a  whip  of  scor- 
pions.' The  'Post'  and  its  editor  thus  became  a  power, 
esteemed  and  respected  by  all  thoughtful  and  worthy 
citizens  in  San  Francisco,  and  feared  by  all  public 
malefactors." 

A  yet  fuller  picture  of  the  editor  is  presented  by  another 
contemporary,  Mrs.  C.  F.  McLean,  who  was  then  Miss 
Sallie  Hart,  and  who  says  that  "while  writing  his  editorials 
or  correcting  proof,  Mr.  George  received  any  and  all  who, 
with  or  without  excuse,  'dropped  in  to  see  the  editor.'  "  ^ 

"I  was  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  San  Fran- 
cisco when  there  arose  a  question  of  the  reduction  of 
the  salaries  of  the  teachers  in  the  lower  grades.  Pick- 
ing up  the  'Evening  Post,'  I  noticed  an  editorial  pro- 
test, which  inspired  me  to  write  a  communication  to  the 
editor,  which  I  signed  with  an  assumed  name.  When 
the  article  appeared  it  was  with  an  editorial  request 
that  'Susan'  call  at  the  office.  Saturday  came  and  with 
it  the  first  visit  of  my  life  to  a  newspaper  office.  The 
place  was  up  two  flights  of  stairs.  ...  To  my 
knock  there  came  a  cheery  'Come  in,'  and  on  opening 
the  door  I  came  face  to  face  with  Henry  George.  He 
was  seated  at  a  common  table  piled  high  with  papers, 
while  all  about  on  the  small  floor  space  were  other  news- 
papers, all,  to  my  unsophisticated  eyes,  piled  in  mourn- 
ful confusion.  ...  I  was  embarrassed,  almost 
frightened,  but  in  an  instant  my  breath  was  fairly  taken 

1  "  Henry  George  :  A  Study  from  Life,"  "The  Arena,"  September,  1898. 
Mrs.  McLean  subsequently  became  an  occasional  writer  for  the  "Post." 
She  is  alluded  to  in  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy  "  (pp.  282,  283)  as 
"the  wife  of  the  superintendent  of  a  Western  zoological  garden,  who, 
coming  to  New  York  with  her  husband  on  the  annual  trip  he  makes  to 
buy  wild  animals,  jokingly  speaks  of  'shopping  for  menagerie  goods.'  " 


246  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1871-1875 

away,  for  the  man  in  front  of  mo  said :  'Come  in,  my 
little  girl.'  However,  I  gasped  out  that  I  had  sent  the 
article  signed  'Susan.'  .  .  .  'Now,  come  sit  down,' 
he  said.  'You  must  excuse  me,  but  you  are  so  small, 
and  you  look  so  young;  do  sit  down.' 

"I  sat  down,  and  before  I  knew  what  I  was  saying 
I  had  told  the  editor  before  me  all  about  myself.  Even 
then  I  noticed  his  large  head  and  bright  eyes,  and  at 
once  compared  them  with  a  picture  of  Henry  Clay  that 
had  been  familiar  to  me  from  childhood,  and  thought 
the  head  before  me  was  the  finer  of  the  two.  I  remem- 
ber now  that  my  first  interview  with  Henry  George  was 
brought  to  a  close  by  a  boy  who,  I  thought,  rather  im- 
peratively demanded  'copy';  therefore  I  hastily  rose  to 
go,  but  not  before  I  had  promised  to  call  again  soon." 

Arthur  McEwen  w^as  a  brilliant  young  contemporary 
newspaper  worker  on  the  Pacific  Coast  with  Henry  George 
and  testifies  that  it  was  the  "editorial  policy  that  marked 
the  'Post'  off  from  the  usual." 

"It  was  as  foreign  to  George  to  be  either  a  demagogue 
or  a  follower  in  politics  as  it  was  for  the  'Post'  to  keep 
subscribers  and  advertisers  by  thrifty  silence.  "Women 
were  appearing  at  local  option  elections  soliciting  votes 
and  receiving  disrespectful  treatment.  Instantly  the 
'Post'  charged  upon  the  ungallant  blackguards,  and  in  a 
day  had  every  saloon  in  California  for  its  enemy.  Sub- 
scribers withdrew  by  the  thousand  and  advertisements 
were  withdrawn  by  the  column,  but  that  made  no  differ- 
ence to  George." 

James  V.  Coffey,  editorial  writer  on  the  "Examiner" 
at  this  time,  and  since  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
San  Francisco,  says  that  Mr.  George  "had  apparently  an 
unsystematic  method  of  work,  jotting  down  a  paragraph 
here  and  a  paragraph  there;  yet  in  the  end  the  writing 
was   smooth    and    connected."     This    apparently   "unsys- 


Age,  32-36]  NEWSPAPER  HABITS  247 

tematic  method  of  work"  doubtless  came  from  dictating 
to  a  stenographer.  Having  a  habit  of  procrastination, 
he  put  off  his  daily  writing  until  he  was  cramped  for  time 
and  had  to  work  under  great  pressure.  To  relieve  this 
stress  he  engaged  a  stenographer,  Edward  Lande,  the  first 
secretary  he  ever  had.  Lande  was  soon  succeeded  by 
Stephen  Potter  who  remained  until  George  left  the  "Post" 
and  who  says  that  his  chief  had  an  original  way  of  working. 

"He  would  dictate  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  leav- 
ing me  to  transcribe,  would  continue  the  thread  of  his 
thoughts  with  his  own  pen.  In  this  way  he  would  dic- 
tate and  write,  and  get  through  an  immense  amount  of 
work.  I  ought  to  say  that  at  this  time  he  had  curious 
habits  of  abstraction,  often  even  on  the  street  he  would 
stop,  walk  to  the  curb  and  stand  there  apparently  deep 
in  thought  and  oblivious  to  the  stir  about  him.  I  have 
had  to  speak  several  times  on  such  occasions  to  rouse 
him." 

Henry  George's  career  on  the  "Evening  Post"  termi- 
nated November  27,  1875.  Starting  the  paper  with 
scarcely  any  capital,  it  had  from  the  business  point  of 
view  a  hand  to  mouth  struggle  until  the  close  of  1873, 
when  a  comparatively  large  sum  of  money  was  obtained 
for  it.     We  have  Mr.  George's  own  story  for  this.^ 

"John  P.  Jones,  then  elected  United  States  Senator 
from  Nevada,  sought  an  interview  with  me  and  de- 
clared himself  interested  in  such  a  paper,  offering  to 
furnish  us  on  our  own  notes,  money  enough  to  buy  the 
best  press  that  could  be  obtained.-     I  had  seen  in  the 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 

2 Mr.  Hintou,  in  conversation  with  Henry  George,  Jr.,  in  April,  1898, 
said  that  Jones  put  in  two  sums  of  money  —  $30,000,  for  which  he  re- 
ceived 30  of  the  100  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  paper,  and $18,000  for  which 
he  received  notes.    Jones  professed  to  do  this  solely  from  motives  of  friend- 


248  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1871-1875 

'Sun'  office  when  in  jSTew  York  in  1869,  the  first  perfect- 
ing press,  the  Bullock,  and  concluding  to  accept  this 
offer  of  Jones,  Mr.  Hinton  went  East  and  made  an  ar- 
rangement with  the  Bullock  Company  for  a  press.  It 
was  brought  out  and  set  up,  the  first  perfecting  press 
on  the  Pacific  Coast. ^ 

"Feeling  that  we  now  had  facilities  for  larger  circu- 
lation and  that  we  should  be  making  a  mistake  not  to 
improve  it,  we  concluded  to  establish  a  morning  paper, 
'The  Ledger,'  which  we  did  in  August,  1875.  This 
was  done  on  an  extensive  scale.  It  was  a  small  daily 
paper,  and  for  the  first  time  in  journalism,  an  illustrated 
Sunday  paper.  We  disdained  asking  for  advertise- 
ments and  designed  to  fill  up  the  whole  with  reading 
matter  until  advertisements  should  seek  us. 

"But  a  few  days  after  it  started  there  was  a  great 
fire  in  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  in  which  many  San 
Franciscans  were  interested ;  a  heavy  decline  in  some  of 
the  greatest  of  the  mining  stocks  and  the  suspension  of 
payment  by  the  Bank  of  California.  Then  came  an  in- 
tense local  money  panic,  during  which  it  became  impos- 
sible to  collect  money-  and  we  had  to  suspend  the  'Led- 
ger.' While  we  were  thus  embarrassed  John  P.  Jones 
demanded  the  return  of  the  money  he  had  loaned  us 
or  that  the  paper  that  we  had  made  should  be  surren- 
dered to  him.  I  felt  like  fighting,  and  a  short  article 
in  the  'Post'  would  have  ended  all  hopes  of  his  getting 
anything  from  it,  but  my  partner,  Mr.  Hinton,  pleaded 
the  duty  of  our  providing  for  the  employees  who  were 
friends,   and  tired   out  with  the  fight,   I   finally  suc- 

liness,  but  if  his  real  motive  was  the  hope  of  influencing  the  paper  to 
change  its  policy  of  hostility  to  President  Grant,  whom  he  warmly  sup- 
ported, he  was  disappointed,  as  his  loan  and  purchase  of  stock  did  not 
affect  the  editorial  columns. 

iThe  paper  also  moved  to  new  and  larger  quarters,  504  Montgomery 
Street,  corner  of  Sacramento,  and  was  supplied  with  a  new  dress  of  type 
and  office  fittings. 

2  Mr.  Hinton  says  that  he  saw  a  man  bring  an  ingot  of  gold  worth 
$9,000  into  the  office  of  Hickox  &  Spier,  money-brokers,  and  get  only 
$1,500  on  it. 


Age,  32-36]  LOSES  HIS  NEWSPAPER  249 

cumbed,  and  without  a  cent  of  compensation,  on  No- 
vember 27,  almost  four  years  to  a  day  after  we  started 
it,  gave  over  the  paper  to  the  representative  of  Jones. 
"I  thus  went  out  with  a  dependent  family  to  make  a 
living  and  not  caring  to  ask  or  to  receive  any  offer  of 
employment  from  other  papers,  I  wrote  to  Governor 
Irwin,  whom  I  had  been  instrumental  in  electing  a  few 
months  before,  and  asked  him  to  give  me  a  place  where 
there  was  little  to  do  and  something  to  get,  so  that  I 
might  devote  myself  to  some  important  writing.  He 
gave  me  the  office  of  State  Inspector  of  Gas-Meters, 
which  yielded,  though  intermittently,  a  sufficient  reve- 
nue to  live  on  and  which  required  very  little  work." 

But  though  Mr.  George  thus  obtained  a  public  office  that 
would  afford  him  a  living,  and  though  he  had  the  purpose 
before  him  of  engaging  in  more  permanent  writing,  the 
loss  of  the  "Post"  seemed  to  him  at  the  time  a  great 
misfortune,  for  not  only  was  he  at  a  stroke  shorn  of  the 
fruits  of  years  of  labour,  but  was  bereft  of  his  weapon 
as  an  active  factor  in  the  affairs  of  the  City  and  State — 
the  keenest  of  losses  to  an  energetic  public  man.  But  this 
in  fact  proved  another  and  a  momentous  turning  point 
in  his  career. 


CHAPTEE    V. 

DOMESTIC    LIFE. 

1873-1876.  Age,  34-37. 

WE  break  in  on  the  narrative  at  this  point  for  a 
glimpse  of  the  home  life. 
In  the  fall  of  1873  the  wife  and  children  had  returned 
from  the  East  and  the  family  settled  down  in  a  cozy  two- 
story  house  at  the  Mission — on  Valencia  Street.  There 
was  a  small  garden,  and  a  climbing  rose  covered  the  front 
of  the  house  with  a  mass  of  white  blossoms  in  the  early 
summer.  It  was  there  that  the  editor  had  what  was  de- 
scribed as  a  "tan-coloured  mustang,"  riding  down  to  the 
"Evening  Post"  office  in  the  morning  and  back  in  the 
afternoon,  and  at  night  putting  him  up  at  a  near-by  stable. 
The  horse  was  one  of  the  small,  wiry,  native  animals,  its 
shaggy  hair  at  most  times  looking  frowsy  and  "a  lick  and 
a  promise"  generally  doing  for  grooming.  The  saddle 
was  of  the  Mexican  pattern  commonly  used  in  California 
at  the  time,  covered  with  embossed  leather,  and  having 
big  horn  pommel  and  ponderous,  leather-enveloped  stir- 
rups. Horse  and  rider  had  a  careless,  though  not  un- 
graceful appearance,  Mr.  George  with  his  trim  figure, 
square  shoulders,  and  easy  posture  moving  with  a  swing 
as  the  animal  quickened  into  its  natural  lope.  Some- 
times he  took  up  behind  him  one  or  the  other  of  his  two 

250 


Age,  34-37]  HORSEBACK  ACCIDENT  251 

bo3^s,  now  getting  to  be  ten  and  twelve ;  sometimes  he  rode 
in  company  with  friends;  but  for  the  most  part  he  took 
solitary  "thinking"  rides,  the  free  motion  of  the  body  in 
the  open  air  seeming  to  exhilarate  the  action  of  the  mind. 

It  was  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  spring  of  1874 
while  on  one  of  these  solitary  rides  on  the  ocean  road  that 
his  horse  shied,  threw  him  from  the  saddle  and  dragged 
him  by  one  stirrup.  Fortunately  the  animal  at  once 
slowed  down  from  a  gallop  or  his  master  must  have  been 
dragged  to  death.  But  Mr.  George  disengaged  his  foot, 
when  the  horse  ran  away  and  was  not  recovered  until  sev- 
eral days  afterwards.  This  was  the  second  accident  of  the 
kind.  Besides  having  his  right  hand  badly  lacerated,  Mr. 
George's  wrist  was  broken.  Holding  his  injured  arm 
against  his  body,  he  made  the  long  walk  of  five  or  six  miles 
at  nightfall  back  over  the  lonely  roads  to  the  city.  Even 
when  he  found  a  doctor  his  chief  thought  was  of  his  wife, 
and  before  anything  was  done  he  sent  a  message  to  her 
not  to  hold  supper  as  he  had  been  detained.  When  he 
got  home  he  said  to  her,  "That  mustang  has  hurt  my  wrist, 
and  now  you  must  be  doubly  my  right  hand  to  me." 

His  great  energy  and  restlessness  made  him  the  most 
impatient  of  patients.  Because  he  could  not  go  to  the 
office,  he  insisted  on  having  a  stenographer  to  whom  to 
dictate  editorials.  But  by  April  he  had  recovered  the 
full  use  of  his  injured  member  and  in  May  the  family 
moved  to  a  house  on  Eincon  Hill,  more  convenient  to  the 
office. 

Domestic  life  was  very  dear  to  the  energetic  public  man. 
Perhaps  the  necessities  of  his  exacting  vocation  made  him 
delight  the  more  to  be  with  his  family.  While  the  wife 
sat  beside  with  her  work-basket,  he  would  lie  on  a  lounge 
in  the  library  and  read  poetry  to  the  two  boys  and  the  girl, 
or  have  them  in  turn  read  or  recite  before  him  or  such 


252  LIFE   OF  HENRY   GEORGE  [1873-1876 

strangers  as  he  chanced  to  bring  home.  Or  perhaps,  he 
went  swimming  with  the  boys  in  a  bath-house  oif  Long 
Bridge,  or  took  the  family  for  a  row  or  for  a  sail  in  a 
"plunger."  It  frequently  happened  in  these  trips  that 
they  found  Ipng  at  anchor  the  little  Shuhrick  in  which 
the  father  had  come  to  California  and  he  would  tell  of 
his  early  seaman's  adventures.  Frequently  there  were 
Sunday  cruises  about  the  bay  on  sloop  or  schooner,  the 
party  made  up  of  friends  with  their  families. 

Henry  George  was  not  a  member  of  any  church,  nor 
did  his  family  attend  any  regularly,  though  in  his  broad- 
ness of  mind  he  left  his  wife  entire  freedom  in  this  for  her- 
self and  the  children.  He  attached  himself  to  no  sect,  yet 
his  nature  was  strongly  reverent.  He  wished  to  have  his 
children  say  night  and  morning  prayers,  and  often  at  twi- 
light or  before  they  went  to  bed  he  would  lie  on  his  lounge 
in  his  library  and  have  them  and  their  mother  mingle 
their  voices  in  the  old  hymns  that  he  had  heard  as  a  child 
in  Philadelphia,  and  again  "Praise  God  from  whom  all 
blessings  flow"  seemed  to  swell  and  echo  through  old  St. 
Paul's.  Out  of  the  inquiry,  why  want  goes  with  plenty, 
religion  had  come  to  have  a  new  meaning.  In  the  con- 
viction that  he  had  discovered  that  it  was  not  by  God's 
will,  but  because  of  violation  of  God's  ordinance  that  men 
sutfered  involuntar}-  poverty  in  the  heart  of  civilisation, 
"a  faith  that  was  dead  revived."  He  had  turned  from  a 
religion  that  taught  either  of  a  Special  Providence  on  the 
one  hand  or  of  a  merciless  fate  on  the  other.  Xow  all 
the  fervour  of  his  spirit  went  forth  in  the  belief  that 
social  progress  is  governed  by  unchanging  and  benefi- 
cent law. 

His  children's  training  began  at  this  time  to  engage 
his  earnest  attention.  They  had  never  attended  any  but 
public  schools,  and  travelling  and  moving  had  broken  even 


Age,  34-37]  TRAINING  OF   CHILDREN  253 

this  schooling.  His  own  method  broke  it  more.  He  dis- 
couraged lesson-studying  at  home,  saying  that  the  regular 
school  hours  were  long  enough,  and  that  the  hours  at 
home  should  be  spent  in  recreation  and  other  ways.  But 
if  his  children,  as  a  consequence,  stood  low  at  recitations, 
they  stood  high  in  general  information  and  the  independ- 
ent use  of  their  faculties,  for  he  would  talk  or  read  to 
them  on  whatever  topic  arose  which  could  be  brought 
within  their  understanding;  and  at  dinner  table,  when 
the  family  was  alone,  he  would  ask  them  in  turn  questions 
touching  history,  literature,  public  matters  or  elementary 
science — such  things  as  may  have  come  \ip  in  previous  con- 
versations. When  they  could  not  answer,  he  himself  would 
do  so.  Eeading  was  encouraged,  and  the  boys,  at  least,  were 
directed  to  such  books  as  the  father  delighted  in  when  of 
their  age.  A  copy  of  "Eobinson  Crusoe"'  was  the  first  book 
he  gave  to  his  eldest  boy — a  tale  that  all  his  life  fascinated 
Henry  George  and  is  frequently  referred  to  in  his  writ- 
ings. Another  book-present  to  his  children  was  the  "Ara- 
bian Nights,"  which  he  sent  while  they  were  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  which,  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  he  had,  "like  a  goose, 
spent  the  night  re-reading."  Thus  the  children  might 
constantly  fail  in  the  school  lessons  they  were  expected  to 
study  at  home,  but  if  asked,  could  recite  from  Tennyson, 
Browning  or  Macaulay,  had  heard  of  the  buried  cities  of 
Egypt  and  Yucatan,  and  in  their  own  way,  could  talk 
about  the  rotation  of  crops,  the  forms  of  water  or  the 
nebular  hypothesis.  From  either  parent  a  request  was  a 
command,  with  corporal  punishment  swiftly  following  de- 
lay or  delinquency;  yet  affection  blended  with  obedience. 
Visitors  added  materially  to  the  children's  education; 
for  at  the  table,  where  the  children  were  brought  when 
old  enough  and  taught  to  l)e  silent,  the  guests  were  drawn 
towards  topics  most  congenial  to  themselves,  good  feeling 


254  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1873-1876 

was  let  loose,  and  anecdotes,  strange  adventures,  curious 
bits  of  information,  flashes  of  wit  and  tales  of  humour 
poured  forth.  The  host  had  the  habit  of  politely  with- 
drawing to  the  place  of  questioner.  This  was  most  agree- 
able to  his  personal  modesty.  It  also  gratified  a  never- 
ceasing  desire  for  information — information,  apparently, 
of  any  kind  and  every  kind,  which,  like  his  miscellaneous 
reading,  was  to  be  drawn  on  when  needed,  many  a  dinner 
talk  later  serving  him  with  hajjpy  illustrations  in  his 
writings.  Men  from  various  parts  of  the  world  came, 
and  as  it  were,  poured  out  their  contributions  to  the 
varied  and  instructive  symposium. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  had  now  grown  closer  than  ever 
before.  In  the  early  days  of  their  marriage,  when  they 
were  struggling  along  in  poverty,  she  had  refrained  from 
inquiring  into  the  matters  outside  of  domestic  affairs  that 
interested  her  husband.  Believing  her  mission  to  be  to 
look  after  his  health,  his  rest  and  recreation,  she  avoided 
all  matters  of  business  and  tried  to  draw  his  mind  into 
other  channels.  But  as  he  advanced  as  a  writer  and  their 
manner  of  living  improved,  she  entered  the  council  of  his 
general  affairs  and  came  to  be  his  close  adviser. 

The  Georges  had  a  small  number  of  intimate  friends. 
They  never  desired  to  move  in  the  fashionable  circles. 
Formal  social  occasions  always  had  their  snares  and  pit- 
falls for  the  husband.  On  one  occasion  when  he  was  led 
to  attend  a  reception  at  the  Ealston  residence  alone,  his 
wife  being  ill,  he  returned  disgusted.  "Such  people  live 
in  a  frivolous  atmosphere,"  he  said.     "There  was  Mrs. 

for  instance.     She  had  nothing  to  talk  about  but  the 

weather."  "The  weather !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  George,  some- 
what doubtfully.  "Why,  yes,"  answered  the  husband; 
"she  asked  me  what  kind  of  a  season  we  were  likely  to 
have,  and  I  told  her  the  indications  were  for  a  wet  sea- 


Age,  34-37]  DISLIKED   SOCIAL  EVENTS  255 

son !"  Mrs.  George  broke  into  merriment.  "Your  social 
butterfly/'  said  she,  "wanted  to  know  about  the  outlook 
for  social  events — receptions,  concerts,  balls,  weddings,  and 
the  like !" 

But  if  Mr.  George  disliked  formal  social  gatherings, 
he  deferred  to  his  wife  in  other  particulars.  He  took  her 
to  the  theatre,  even  when  he  himself  cared  little  or  nothing 
for  the  performance;  and  to  concerts,  though  he  had  no 
taste  for  any  but  the  simplest  music.  On  ladies'  night, 
when  his  newspaper  friend,  Daniel  O'Connell,  or  his  actor 
friend,  Henry  Edwards,  presided  over  the  fun,  he  took 
her  to  "high  jinks"  at  the  Bohemian  Club,  of  which  he 
was  one  of* the  earliest  members. 

The  dream  of  wealth,  indeed,  the  desire  for  it,  had  long 
since  departed.  The  dream  of  increasing  the  world's  hap- 
piness and  of  raising  the  mass  of  men  out  of  the  slough 
of  poverty  had  taken  its  place.  But  the  wish  to  get  be- 
yond the  anxieties  of  a  hand-to-mouth  way  of  living  drew 
Mr.  George  into  mining  investments  now  and  again,  when 
the  atmosphere  became  surcharged  with  the  mining  fever. 
When  in  1872  silver  bonanza  discoveries  occurred  on  the 
Comstock  lode  in  the  Washoe  Mountains,  Nevada — prin- 
cipally in  the  Crown  Point  and  Belcher  mines — he  was 
drawn  into  investments  during  the  general  excitement, 
and  came  out  with  losses.  His  wife's  letter  to  him  from 
Philadelphia   (May  17,  1872)   touching  the  matter  ran: 

"I  won't  blame  you.  You  feel  it  as  much  as  I  do. 
It  was  a  risk  at  any  rate,  and  I'm  not  surprised.  You 
know  I'm  far  oft'  and  can  look  at  these  matters  coolly, 
while  you  have  all  the  excitement.  Don't  gamble  in  any- 
thing else  than  newspapers.  That  is  the  only  way  you 
make  anything." 

But  in  1875  he  went  in  again.  There  was  at  the  time 
the  wildest  and  most  general  excitement  that  San  Fran- 


256  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1873-1S76 

Cisco  had  ever  seen.  It  grew  out  of  the  discovery  in  the 
up  to  that  time  practically  unproductive  Consolidated  Vir- 
ginia mine  on  the  Comstock  lode  of  a  bonanza  that  it  was 
said  would  yield  fifteen  hundred  millions.  The  mine  was 
managed,  under  the  firm  name  of  Flood  &  O'Brien,  by 
four  men — James  C.  Flood  and  William  S.  O'Brien,  who 
had  kept  a  drinking  saloon  on  Washington  Street,  San 
Francisco,  and  themselves  served  customers;  and  John 
W.  Mackay  and  James  G.  Fair,  who  were  practical  miners 
on  the  Comstock,  and  who,  with  some  real  or  fancied 
knowledge  of  conditions,  drew  the  other  two  men  with 
them  into  the  purchase  of  the  Consolidated  Virginia  mine. 
They  paid  for  it  less  than  $100,000.  During  the  first  half 
of  1875  the  monthly  output  was  more  than  a  million  and 
a  half  of  silver,  and  the  shares  that  had  been  purchased 
for  less  than  one  tenth  of  a  million  rose  towards  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions.  Contagion  of  speculation  ^'bulled" 
the  whole  market  of  mining  stocks,  during  which,  the  man- 
agers unloaded  their  shares,  reaction  set  in  and  the  whole 
list  fell  with  a  rush.  Mr.  George's  investments  were  in 
Ophir  and  Consolidated  Virginia.  He  reaped  a  loss,  which 
cramped  his  circumstances. 

And  as  his  Avife  was  his  counsellor  in  his  mining  losses, 
so  was  she  when  the  break  came  on  the  "Evening  Post" 
and  he  went  out  penniless.  He  quickly  recovered  his  self- 
poise  in  the  latter  disaster,  so  that  he  could  write  from 
Sacramento  shortly  afterwards  (March  14,  1876)  : 

"Mills^  tells  me  that  they  are  willing  to  sell  the  'Post,' 
lock,  stock  and  barrel,  for  $35,000  over  its  receipts. 
Jones,  he  says,  is  heartily  disgusted,  and  the  chances  are 
that  he  will  soon  drop  the  thing.  For  my  part  I  would 
not  touch  it,  unless  it  was  given  to  mo  outright." 

1  "William  H.  Mills,  of  the  Sacramento  "Record-Union." 


Age,  34-37]  STRONG  MARRIAGE  BOND  257 

Mr.  George  received  strength  from  his  wife  when  he 
needed  it,  and  in  return  supported  her  when  occasion 
called,  for  instance  writing  to  her  (February  24)  touch- 
ing the  condition  of  her  uncle,  Matthew  McCloskey,  who 
was  on  his  death  bed: 

"I  am  sorry  to  hear  about  Matt.  I  do  not  think  much 
of  the  new  doctor  that  will  talk  that  way — that  is  if  he 
talks  so  to  his  patient,  as  the  most  potent  thing  in  medi- 
cine is  hope.  But  however  it  may  be,  you  must  not 
suffer  it  to  make  you  blue.  We  must  all  die,  and  what, 
after  all,  signifies  a  few  years  more  or  less.  It  is  not 
Christian  or  reasonable  to  grieve  about  what  God  has 
appointed,  nor  is  it  wise  to  l)orrow  trouble.  I  wish 
when  you  feel  so  you  would  go  out  somewhere." 

They  read  much  from  general  literature  together  and 
discussed  what  they  read;  and  besides  this,  Mr.  George 
now  read  some  law,  which  he  thought  would  be  useful  to 
him  in  understanding  and  discussing  public  affairs,  even 
though  he  should  never  follow  law  as  a  profession.  A 
letter  dated  Marysville,  May  26,  1876,  while  he  was  on  a 
meter  inspecting  trip  with  his  brother  Vallance  touches 
on   this : 

"I  have  a  good  square  day  to  loaf  in,  as  Val  is  at 
work,  and  one  can  get  ahead  as  well  as  two.  Going 
to  bed  at  nine  o'clock,  and  right  off  to  sleep,  six  in  the 
morning  at  this  season  of  the  year  seems  late.  After 
breakfast  I  went  up-stairs  and  took  a  tussle  with  Kent. 
I  was  making  fine  progress  till  all  of  a  sudden  he  threw 
me,  and  stretching  out  on  the  bed,  I  snoozed  for  an 
hour — very  pleasant  those  sleeps  are.  .  .  .  It  is  a 
nice  day  here — warm,  but  yet  not  oppressive.  There 
is  nothing  particular  though  to  see  or  to  do  and  I  shall 
put  in  my  time  this  morning  reading  and  writing.  I 
feel  encouraged  by  my  progress  in  law,  and  really  inter- 
ested, though  it  does  put  me  to  sleep,  and  I  think  I  can 


258  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1873-1876 

in  a  year  make  as  much  progress  as  ordinary  students 
do  in  three  or  four." 


There  were  times  when  his  over-wrought,  higlily  strung 
nerves  brought  a  flash  of  irritability;  but  this  was  all — a 
flash — so  that  there  was  never  anything  like  a  lasting  dis- 
agreement. The  current  of  devotion  ran  even  stronger 
and  freer  now  than  when,  entering  manhood,  he  went 
courting  the  girl  who  had  just  come  from  the  convent 
school.  And  what  affection  and  the  marriage  tie  were  to 
him  only  his  own  words  can  adequately  tell — letters  writ- 
ten by  him  from  Sacramento  to  his  wife  in  San  Francisco 
during  a  few  days'  separation  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  wed- 
lock. 

Sacramento,  March  18,  1876. 

"I  have  been  sitting  in  the  Senate  listening  to  a  de- 
bate on  the  divorce  bill — Pierson's  bill  to  limit  cause 
for  divorces  to  adultery.  I  think  the  bill  is  in  the  right 
direction.  We  have  found  out,  as  Pierson  said,  that  it 
was  dangerous  to  talk  of  divorces  in  mixed  company. 
He  also  said  that  there  was  one  divorce  granted  in  San 
Francisco  for  every  three  marriages,  and  that  divorces 
were  often  got  in  a  single  day. 

"If  I  ever  had  any  leaning  to  the  modern  doctrine 
in  this  matter  I  have  entirely  got  over  it.  Marriage 
is  not  only  the  foundation  of  society;  it  is  the  divinely 
appointed  state  which  confers  the  highest  and  purest 
happiness,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  people  knew  that 
they  could  not  separate  from  each  other,  the  result 
woidd  be  to  make  them  try  harder  to  live  comfortably 
with  each  other." 

Sunday  evening,  March  27,  1876. 

"I  have  wanted  to  write  to  you  all  day ;  but  I  have 
been  moving  around,  and  though  I  have  thought  vol- 
umes, I  did  not  have  a  chance  to  write  them. 

"I  got  at  noon  to-day  your  letter  of  last  night.  Many 
thanks.     I  hardly  expected  it,  but  thought  it  would  be 


Age,  34-37]  LOVE  LETTERS   TO  WIFE  259 

SO  nice  if  I  should  get  a  letter,  and  when  I  went  down  to 
the  'Eecord-Union'  after  the  train  got  in,  there  it  was. 

"You  are  a  dutiful  little  woman,  my  darling.  By 
my  own  feelings,  I  know  how  hard  it  was  for  you  to 
have  me  stay  away;  but  it  pleased  me  to  think  3^ou  ap- 
proved of  it,  and  it  made  the  separation  lighter.  I  have 
felt  happy  all  the  afternoon.  In  all  the  pauses  of  the 
talk  the  face  of  the  woman  I  love  rose  up  before  me. 
A  man  is  a  bundle  of  inconsistencies.  It  delights  me  to 
think  that  you  are  wholly  and  absolutely  mine.  There 
is  a  pride  and  pleasure  in  feeling  that  I  am  really  your 
'lord  and  master';  and  yet  your  approbation,  it  seems 
to  me,  outweighs  that  of  all  the  world.  What  a  blessed 
thing  it  is  to  be  truly  married,  as  we  are  married — in 
body  and  mind  and  soul.  I  often  thank  God  for  it,  and 
when  I  hear,  as  I  often  do,  how  married  men  sin  against 
their  vows,  I  think  what  poor  fools  they  are,  not  to 
realise  how  much  more  real  pleasure  there  is  in  the 
love  of  one  virtuous  woman.  If  my  darling  is  mine, 
I  also  am  hers.  If  I  have  the  right  to  her,  she  also 
has  the  right  to  me.  All  that  I  can  achieve  she  must 
share;  my  full  possession  of  her  involves  just  as  com- 
plete a  possession  on  her  part  of  me.  The  old  ideas 
are  right  and  are  founded  on  the  depths  of  human 
nature.  The  'love,  cherish  and  protect'  on  one  side, 
and  the  'love,  honour  and  obey'  on  the  other,  are  more 
than  any  other  contract;  and  when  the  binding  force 
of  the  obligation  is  felt,  the  touch  of  the  chain,  instead 
of  galling,  is  a  pleasure. 

"How  much  fresh  delight  there  is  in  our  love.  From 
the  time  I  first  saw  you  and  was  captivated  by  that 
something  in  face  and  voice  and  manner,  which  I  never 
could  explain  in  words,  it  has  gone  on  increasing  and 
increasing.  Husband  and  father,  I  am  still  more  lover 
than  when  I  used  to  stop  in  my  work  to  take  out  your 
picture  and  steal  a  glance  at  it.  Satisfaction  only 
crowns  desire,  and  the  love  of  the  mature  man  is  not 
only  deeper,  but  more  passionate  than  that  of  the  boy. 
And  this  love  is  the  great  thing  with  me.  All  outside 
ups  and  downs  are  trivial  compared  with  that." 


260  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1873-1876 

March  30,  1876. 
"Mills  was  saying  the  other  night  that  if  a  man  and 
AYoman  kept  up  their  love,  they  never  grew  old  to  each 
other,  and  I  told  him  he  was  right.  You  are  to  me 
prettier,  more  loving  and  more  tempting  than  when  you 
were  a  little  delicate  slip  of  a  girl.  Do  you  know  that 
it  is  a  keen  delight  to  me  to  think  how  you  have  im- 
proved. I  always  have  felt  towards  you  a  good  deal 
as  Ahelard  must  have  felt  towards  Heloise — as  though 
you  were  my  pupil  as  well  as  wife." 

March  31,  1876. 
"Did  you  ever  notice  one  thing  about  the  higher  pleas- 
ures— they  don't  pall,  as  the  grosser  ones  do.  On  the 
contrary,  they  become  more  exquisite.  The  very  regu- 
larity of  the  letter  gives  it  new  delight.  There  is  such 
a  proud  satisfaction  in  feeling  you  are  not  mistaken. 
I  like  even  that  boy^  to  know  that  'my  girl'  thinks  so 
much  of  me.  And  then  they  weave  such  links  between 
us,  and  keep  us  together  in  spirit,  even  though  we  are 
separated  in  space.  I  once  read  a  little  story — I  don't 
know  where  it  was — of  how  a  husband  ^vas  beginning 
to  wander  in  thought  a  little  from  his  wife  when  he  was 
away,  and  how  her  letters  held  him  and  brought  him  back 
to  her,  more  her  lover  than  before.  And  is  there  not 
something  in  this  which  goes  even  beyond  the  present 
life?  Others  may,  but  it  is  not  for  you  and  me,  my 
darling,  to  doubt  the  goodness  of  God.  The  more  I 
think  of  it,  the  more  I  feel  that  our  present  life  will  not 
bound  our  love." 

Upon  such  a  foundation  of  affection  was  reared  a  noble 
superstructure.  One  day  as  his  wife  sat  close  beside  him 
in  a  low  chair,  the  husband  while  lying  on  his  sofa  said: 
"What  do  you  most  admire  in  a  man?" 

"Courage,"  the  wife  answered. 

1  Reference  to  a  hotel  boy,  who,  bringing  liis  letters,  would 
say,  "  Another  letter  from  your  girl,  Mr.  George  " 


Age,  34-37]  QUALITY  OF  COURAGE  261 

"Courage,"  he  repeated,  jumping  up  and  walking  the 
floor.     "I  thought  you  would  say  virtue." 

"No,  not  virtue,  because  I  have  come  to  perceive  that 
the  world  sets  up  separate  standards  for  men  and  women, 
and  that  what  would  be  a  breach  of  virtue  in  the  woman 
might  not  be  considered  as  such  in  the  man.  I  do  not 
say  that  that  is  right,  but  I  do  recognise  that  the  world  so 
holds  it." 

"But  why  courage?"  asked  the  husband. 

"Because  it  is  the  manly  quality." 

"But  courage  might  seem  to  go  with  physique — and  I 
am  a  small  man.     How  do  you  find  this  courage  in  me?" 

"I  do  not  mean  physical  courage,"  replied  the  wife, 
"but  moral  courage;  the  courage  that  impels  a  man  who 
sees  his  duty  to  follow  it,  though  it  mean  to  make  sacri- 
fices— to  stand  up  against  the  world." 

The  husband  said  that  this  strengthened  as  well  as 
gratified  him,  and  that  some  day  he  might  have  to  ask  her 
to  support  him  when  duty  called  him  to  stand  up  against 
the  world. 


CHAPTER   VI. 
FIRST   SET   POLITICAL   SPEECH. 

1876-1877.  ACxE,  37-38. 

WILLIAM  S.  IRWIN,  Democrat,  the  new  Governor 
of  California,  was  sworn  in  at  the  State  Capitol  at 
Sacramento  on  January  1,  1876,  and  one  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  appoint  Henry  George  to  what  v/as  regarded  as 
among  the  most  lucrative  offices  within  the  Executive  gift 
— State  Inspector  of  Gas  Meters.  He  did  this  partly  from 
a  motive  of  assisting  a  man  who  had  through  the  "Even- 
ing Post''  and  the  "Morning  Ledger"  done  much  to  help 
his  election.  But  E.  W.  Maslin,  who  was  the  Governor's 
private  secretary,  says  that  another  motive  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  matter. 

"Henry  George  was  recognised  as  nominally  a  Demo- 
crat, but  not  a  partisan.  He  had  no  political  backing 
and  was  regarded  to  be  without  political  claims  upon 
the  Governor.  It  was  therefore  a  political  surprise 
when  he  was  appointed  Gas-Meter  Inspector.  The  ap- 
pointment was  more  than  anything  else  a  tribute  to 
intellect. 

"I  was  the  Governor's  private  secretary,  and  in  the 
leisure  hours  of  the  office  we  were  accustomed  to  discuss 
books,  public  men  and  measures.  The  Governor  was 
chary  of  giving  praise,  yet  not  once  but  many  times  he 
expressed  his  strong  admiration  for  Mr.  George's  intel- 

262 


Age,  37-38]  GOVERNOR  IRWIN'S   TRIBUTE  263 

lectual  ability,  and  laid  peculiar  stress  upon  his  logical 
mind,  power  of  statement  and  clear  and  brilliant  style. 
In  one  of  those  conversations  he  declared  that  George 
possessed  the  clearest  and  finest  style  of  all  English 
writers.  I  was  not  surprised  that  the  Governor  should 
speak  of  the  logic  and  power  of  statement,  for  this  arose 
from  the  character  of  his  own  mind.  He  had  little 
imagination,  but  he  was  logical,  well  read  and  highly 
trained.  I  was  not  surprised  that  he  should  speak  of 
similar  qualities  in  George;  but  I  was  astonished  that 
the  latter's  style  should  have  attracted  his  attention. 
I  myself  had  in  1871,  when  Secretary  of  the  State 
Board  of  Equalisation,  supplied  George  with  some  sta- 
tistical matter  which  he  used  at  the  time  in  his  pam- 
phlet, 'Our  Land  and  Land  Policy,'  and  I  had  read  a 
number  of  things,  long  and  short,  from  his  pen  after- 
wards; but  though  I  recognised  his  ability,  I  did  not 
appreciate  his  mode  of  expression,  as  did  the  Governor. 
The  fact  that  this  cold,  unimpassioned  man  should  so 
often  break  into  praise  of  George's  'elegant  and  brilliant 
st_yle'  made  a  profound  impression  on  me." 


Henry  George  took  official  charge  on  January  13  and 
within  a  few  days  began  to  "test"  the  registry  of  meters 
l^y  forcing  a  measured  quantity  of  air  through  them  in 
place  of  gas,  fastening  a  brass  seal  on  all  that  met  the 
la^vful  requirements.  A  set  fee  was  allowed  on  every 
meter  so  tested  and  sealed. 

The  office  of  inspector  of  gas  meters  had  been  estab- 
lished for  the  protection  of  gas  consumers  and  did  much 
to  correct  impositions.  But  a  loop-hole  had  been  left, 
perhaps  inadvertently,  by  which  the  law  did  not  reach 
some  of  the  towns  scattered  over  the  State,  where  large 
num])ers  of  meters,  purchased  from  or  through  the  San 
Francisco  Gas  Company  or  its  officials,  had  without  being 
inspected  and  sealed  been  put  into  use.  George,  or  rather 
his  friends  who  were  most  zealous  for  his  interests,  had 


264  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [i87G-1877 

an  amendment  introduced  into  the  legislature  which  should 
compel  companies  to  submit  for  inspection  all  unsealed 
meters  in  use  or  intended  for  immediate  use.  The  gas 
companies,  and  particularly  the  San  Francisco  company 
through  its  president,  raised  hot  opposition.  After  cut- 
ting off  some  features  to  which  the  companies  particularly 
ol)jected,  the  measure  went  through  and  the  inspector  dur- 
ing the  next  few  months  went  to  the  chief  cities  through- 
out the  State  and  demanded  that  all  unsealed  meters  be 
brought  to  him  to  be  tested,  his  brother,  John  V.  George, 
going  with  him  to  assist  in  the  work.  Though  at  first 
by  virtue  of  this  amendment  of  the  inspection  law,  Mr. 
George  obtained  what  seemed  to  him  like  large  sums  of 
money  from  places  like  Marysville  and  Grass  Valley  where 
numbers  of  untested  meters  were  in  use,  the  office  of  in- 
spector yielded  only  an  intermittent  revenue  and  on  tlie 
whole  only  enough  to  live  on  comfortably  and  without 
extravagance.  Mr.  George  for  a  while  entertained  the 
expectation  of  going  East  in  the  summer  to  visit  the  old 
folks  and  to  see  the  international  exposition  then  to  be 
opened  with  great  ceremony  at  Philadelphia  in  commemo- 
ration of  the  hundredth  celebration  of  the  nation's  inde- 
pendence. This  had  to  be  given  up,  as  for  the  time  the 
receipts  from  the  office  fell  off. 

"Though  my  official  duties  were  light,"  said  Mr.  George 
when  reviewing  this  period,^  "I  nevei'  ate  the  bread  of 
idleness,  but  was  always  very  hard  at  work."  Among  the 
matters  engaging  him  were  a  number  of  measures  before 
the  State  legislature  and  chief  of  these  were  two  bills  in- 
troduced by  William  M.  Pierson  in  the  Senate,  both  relat- 
ing to  the  publication  of  newspapers,  one  to  compel  the 
retraction  of  false  or  defamatory  articles  and  the  other 

1  Meeker  notes. 


Age,  37-38]  PERSONAL  JOURNALISM  265 

requiring  the  signature  of  all  original  articles  or  corre- 
spondence. Mr.  George  was  particularly  interested  in  the 
latter  and  wrote  in  support  of  it  two  bright,  vivacious, 
signed  articles  for  the  "Sacramento  Bee,''  which  were  af- 
terwards printed  in  pamphlet  form.  His  contention  was 
that  the  march  of  concentration  was  putting  newspapers 
more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  massed  capital,  making 
newspaper  workers  more  and  more  dependent  upon  spe- 
cial interests  and  utterly  helpless  to  get  outside  recogni- 
tion so  long  as  they  should  work  anonymously. 

"The  effect  of  the  present  anonymous  system  is  to 
make  the  newspaper  everything,  the  writer  nothing. 
The  tendency  of  the  personal  system  would  be  to  trans- 
fer importance  and  power  from  the  newspaper  to  the 
writers — to  diffuse  instead  of  to  concentrate;  to  make 
the  men  who  see  for  the  people  and  think  for  the  people 
independent  of  capital,  instead  of  dependent  on  capital ; 
and  to  facilitate  the  establishment  of  new  papers  when- 
ever the  old  ones  abandoned  the  popular  cause." 

He  got  some  personal  satisfaction  from  this  article, 
for  he  wrote  to  his  wife  (March  14)  :  "I  spent  a  good  part 
of  the  afternoon  listening  to  the  debate  in  the  Senate 
upon  the  signature  bill.  Uncle  Phil  [Philip  A.  Roach, 
one  of  the  editors  and  part  proprietor  of  the  "San  Fran- 
cisco Examiner"]  threw  himself  in  opposition,  though  he 
made  a  very  handsome  allusion  to  me,  as  all  the  principal 
speakers  have  done."  Both  the  signature  and  the  retrac- 
tion bill,  while  they  passed  the  Senate,  had  the  powerful 
opposition  of  the  San  Francisco  papers  and  were  killed 
in  the  House. 

As  helping  to  make  his  ideas  known,  the  articles  in  sup- 
port of  the  signature  bill  were  probably  worth  the  effort 
he  made,  but  a  few  months  later  there  was  an  occurrence 


266  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1876-1877 

of  much  greater  importance  to  Mr.  George  personallj'^ — the 
first  set  speech.  At  various  times,  begimiing  as  far  back 
as  1865  when  a  member  of  the  Sacramento  Lyceum,  he 
had  got  upon  his  feet  for  a  few  impromptu  remarks. 
Now  came  a  chance  for  a  formal  effort.  The  Presidential 
campaign  was  opening,  with  Governor  Eutherford  B. 
Ha3^es  of  Ohio,  candidate  of  the  Eepublican  party,  and 
Governor  Samuel  J.  Tilden  of  Xew  York,  for  the  Demo- 
cratic. Mr.  George  entered  on  the  campaign  with  lively 
feelings,  for  Hayes,  he  considered,  represented  the  reac- 
tionary policy  of  his  party,  while  Tilden,  he  believed,  was 
a  free  trader,  and  while  demanding  the  remission  of  war- 
tax  burdens,  would  take  the  side  of  the  industrial  masses, 
just  now  idle  in  thousands  all  over  the  country. 

Animated  by  something  akin  to  the  admiration  Gover- 
nor Irwin  had  for  George's  abilities,  a  number  of  ener- 
getic young  men  of  radical  opinion  in  San  Francisco,  en- 
rolled in  what  was  known  as  the  "Tilden  and  Hendricks 
Central  Club,"  asked  Mr.  George  to  speak  under  its  aus- 
pices, hoping,  as  one  of  them,  Walter  Gallagher,  said,  "to 
make  this  speech  the  ke3'note  of  the  canvass  in  California." 
George  was  thereupon  formally  invited.  He  spoke  before 
a  big  meeting  in  Dashaway  Hall  on  the  evening  of  August 
15,  on  "The  Question  Before  the  People."  He  stood  be- 
side the  reading  desk  on  which  he  had  his  manuscript 
spread  out,  read  by  glances  and  spoke  slowly  and  distinctly. 
He  avoided  the  usual  political  declamation  and  struck  a 
high  tone  at  once. 

"Eemember  this,  the  political  contest  is  lifted  above 
the  low  plane  of  denunciation  and  demagogism,  and 
becomes  not  a  contest  for  spoils  in  which  the  people  are 
simply  permitted  to  choose  which  gang  shall  plunder 
them;  but  a  solemn,  momentous  inquiry,  demanding 
from  each  voter  a  conscientious  judgment." 


;e,  37-38]  FIRST   FORMAL  SPEECH  267 

The  kernel  of  the  speech  was  this: 

"The  Federal  tax-gatherer  is  everywhere.  In  each 
exchange  by  which  labour  is  converted  into  commodi- 
ties, there  he  is  standing  between  buyer  and  seller  to 
take  his  to'l.  Whether  it  be  a  match  or  a  locomotive, 
a  dish-cloth  or  a  dress,  a  new  book  or  a  glass  of  beer,  the 
tax-gatherer  steps  in.  He  says  to  Labour  as  the  day's 
toil  begins :  ^Ah !  you  want  to  do  a  little  work  for  your- 
self and  family.  Well,  first  work  an  hour  to  pay  the 
interest  on  the  national  debt  and  defray  the  necessary 
expenses  of  government;  and  then  another  hour  for 
the  national  banks  and  subsidised  corporations,  and  the 
expenses  of  governing  the  Southern  States !  Then  an 
hour  for  the  army  and  navy  and  the  contractors  thereof ; 
then  an  hour  for  the  manufacturers  of  New  England, 
and  an  hour  for  the  iron  millionaires  of  Pennsylvania; 
half  an  hour  for  the  Marine  Corps  and  the  various  com- 
fortable little  bureaus;  and  then,  after  you  have  done  a 
little  work  for  your  State  Government,  and  a  little  work 
for  your  county  and  municipal  government,  and  a  little 
work  for  your  landlord — then  you  can  have  the  rest  of 
the  day  to  work  for  yourself  and  family.'     . 

"Fellow-citizens,  negro  slavery  is  dead !  But  cast 
your  eyes  over  the  North  to-day  and  see  a  worse  than 
negro  slavery  taking  root  under  the  pressure  of  the  pol- 
icy you  are  asked  as  Republicans  to  support  by  your 
votes.  See  seventy  thousand  men  out  of  work  in  the 
Pennsylvania  coal-fields;  fifty  thousand  labourers  ask- 
ing for  bread  in  the  city  of  New  York;  the  almshouses 
of  Massachusetts  crowded  to  repletion  in  the  summer- 
time; unemployed  men  roving  over  the  West  in  great 
bands,  stealing  what  they  cannot  earn.  .  .  .  It  is 
an  ominous  thing  that  in  this  Centennial  year.  States 
that  a  century  ago  were  covered  by  the  primeval  forest 
should  be  holding  conventions  to  consider  the  'tramp 
nuisance' — the  sure  symptom  of  that  leprosy  of  nations, 
chronic  pauperism. 

"Be  not  deceived!  You  might  as  well  charge  the 
bullet  or  the  kuife  with  beincr  the  cause  of  the  death 


268  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [187G-1877 

of  a  murdered  man  as  to  think  that  all  the  things  of 
which  you  complain  result  from  the  accident  of  having 
had  bad  men  in  office.  What  can  any  change  of  men 
avail  so  long  as  the  policy  which  is  the  primary  cause 
of  these  evils  is  unchanged  ?" 

Ex-District  Attorney  Thomas  P.  Kyan  was  president  of 
the  club.  He  presided  at  this  meeting  and  says  of  the 
speaker  and  the  speech : 

"At  that  time  he  looked  to  me  to  be  about  thirty 
years  of  age.  He  impressed  me  then,  as  he  always  did, 
as  being  a  man  of  naturally  nervous  temperament,  but 
one  who  had  so  schooled  himself  as  to  give  no  expression 
as  a  rule  to  that  fact  by  his  manner.  In  repose  his 
habit  was  calm,  almost  placid,  and  age  sits  lightly  upon 
those  so  blessed.  In  action  there  was  no  want  of  fire, 
and  when  the  situation  required,  it  was  fittingly  dis- 
played. If  we  rate  his  speech  that  night  by  the  stand- 
ard of  eloquence  of  the  great  French  orator,  Bishop 
Dupanloup — a  thorough  knowledge  of  one's  subject — 
he  was  indeed  eloquent.  That  the  address  was  extraor- 
dinarily able  and  convincing  was  the  universal  opinion 
of  those  who  heard  it.  The  impression  it  left  on  me  is 
lasting  and  the  best  evidence  of  its  force  and  effect  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  at  this  late  day  I  am,  almost 
without  effort,  able  to  recall  in  the  main  most  of  the 
facts  then  presented  and  the  circumstances  surround- 
ing the  speech's  delivery. 

"At  its  conclusion,  Mr.  James  G.  Maguire,  since  so 
devoted  a  disciple  of  Henry  George,  and  distinguished 
as  an  upright  Judge  and  Member  of  Congress,  arose 
and  said  that  it  was  the  ablest  political  address  to  which 
he  had  ever  listened,  and  moved  that  it  be  printed  for 
distribution  as  a  campaign  document,  which  was  done. 

"The  audience  was  a  large  and  most  appreciative  one, 
Governor  Irwin,  among  other  distinguished  men,  being 
present. 

"Touching  this  speech,  and  indeed,  of  everything  else 
Henry  George  said  and  wrote  subsequently,  I  have  car- 


Age,  37-38]  AN  INFORMAL   SPEECH  269 

ried  in  my  mind  the  tliought  so  happily  expressed  by 
Mommsen  in  spealving  of  Eenan :  'He  is  a  savant  in  spite 
of  his  fine  style.'  " 

This  Dashaway  Hall  speech  was  carefully  prepared. 
Mr.  Gallagher  tells  of  an  unprepared  one  that  Henry 
George  made  very  soon  afterwards. 

"Some  days  after  the  Dashaway  Hall  meeting  Mr. 
George  was  present  at  a  very  large  and  enthusiastic 
meeting  at  the  Mission  in  Humboldt  Hall.  I  was  ex- 
pected to  speak  at  that  meeting  and  did  not  expect  to 
see  Henry  George  there.  Cameron  H.  King,  I  think, 
presided.  Mr.  George,  who  was  familiar  to  a  large 
number  in  the  audience,  was  vociferously  called  for. 
He  was  very  backward  about  responding  and  hesitated 
quite  a  while  before  he  was  finally  persuaded  to  go  upon 
the  rostrum.  I  think  I  can  picture  him  now  in  my 
mind's  eye  as  he  appeared  on  that  night.  He  was  sit- 
ting close  up  to  the  front  where  he  could  easily  see  and 
hear  all  that  was  going  on.  He  held  a  little  old  soft 
felt  hat  crumpled  up  tightly  in  his  hand.  When  he 
finally  made  up  his  mind  to  respond  to  the  cheers  and 
calls  he  went  with  a  rush.  It  seemed  to  me  that  he 
ran  to  the  rostrum  and  immediately  in  a  loud,  full 
voice,  at  a  very  high  pitch,  entered  into  a  discussion  of 
the  issues  before  the  people — all  the  time  holding  his 
hat  in  his  hand.  The  audience  expected  a  different  kind 
of  speech  from  him  than  from  the  rest  of  us.  The  audi- 
ence was  not  disappointed,  for  what  he  said  was  full  of 
thought  and  force.  But  I  remember  that  his  elocution 
was  not  of  the  best.  He  was  earnest  and  sincere,  but 
his  manner  and  gesticulation  were  not  to  be  commended 
as  accompaniments  of  oratory.  He  did  not  have  the 
proper  control  of  his  voice,  and  there  appeared  to  be 
in  his  manner  an  absolute  disregard  for  those  little  arts 
of  the  orator  which  have  so  much  effect  upon  a  crowd." 

But  it  was  the  speech  on  "The  Question  Before  the 
People"  that  attracted  chief  attention  and  the  Democratic 


270  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1876-1877 

State  Committee  invited  him  to  "stump"  the  State  and 
deliver  it  in  the  principal  cities  and  towns.  From  no 
speaking  reputation  whatever,  he  sprang  through  this  one 
address  to  the  place  of  a  leading  s^^eaker  in  California, 
and  was  given  the  honour  of  making  the  final  speech  of 
the  campaign  in  Piatt's  Hall,  San  Francisco.  Dr.  Shorb 
was  chairman  and  knew  George  well,  but  amused  himself 
by  introducing  him  as  "Colonel  Henry  D.  George."  Mr. 
George,  somewhat  disconcerted,  protested  that  he  had  nei- 
ther a  title  nor  a  middle  initial,  whereupon  somebody  in 
the  audience  shouted:  "Oh,  go  ahead,  Harry.  We  all 
know  who  you  are." 

So  the  campaign  passed;  election  day  came  and  went, 
and  the  decision  was  not  yet  clear  when  Mr.  George  wrote 
to  his  mother  (November  13)  touching  his  personal  in- 
terests : 

"Well,  the  campaign  is  over,  though  its  result  is  as 
yet  unsettled.  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  glad  that  it  is  over, 
for  although  I  think  Tilden  is  President,  the  way  this 
coast  went  is  a  great  disappointment  to  me;  but  at  any 
rate  I  shall  now  have  a  resting  spell — a  longer  one  and 
a  better  one  than  I  have  had  before. 

"I  did  my  best,  for  my  heart  was  in  it,  and  that  is 
a  consolation.  And  personally  what  I  accomplished 
was  very  gratifying.  I  have  shown  that  I  could  make 
myself  felt  without  a  newspaper,  and  shown  that  I 
possessed  other  abilit}'  than  that  of  the  pen.  I  have 
always  felt  that  I  possessed  the  requisites  for  a  first- 
class  speaker,  and  that  I  would  make  one  if  I  could  get 
the  practice;  and  I  started  into  this  campaign  with  the 
deliberate  purpose  of  breaking  myself  in.  It  was  like 
jumping  overboard  to  learn  to  swim.  But  I  succeeded. 
I  think  no  man  in  the  State  made  as  much  reputation 
as  I  have  made.  From  not  being  known  as  a  speaker 
I  liave  come  to  the  front.  I  wanted  to  do  this,  not  as  a 
matter  of  vanity  or  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  the  thing ; 
but  to  increase  my  power  and  usefulness.     Already  v/ell 


Age,3G-37]  AIMS   FOR   THE   FUTURE  271 

known  as  a  writer,  I  knew  that  this  kind  of  a  reputa- 
tion would  aid  me  immensely  in  the  future.  And  so  it 
will — whether  I  go  into  politics,  into  the  law  or  into 
the  newspaper  business  again.  I  do  not  intend  to  rest 
here;  but  to  go  ahead  step  by  step. 

"You  need  not  be  afraid  of  politics  doing  me  harm. 
I  do  not  propose  to  mix  in  lower  politics,  nor  do  I  pro- 
pose to  chase  after  nominations.  I  shall  wait  till  they 
seek  me.  I  propose  to  read  and  study,  to  write  some 
things  which  will  extend  my  reputation  and  perhaps  to 
deliver  some  lectures  with  the  same  view.  And  if  I 
live  I  shall  make  myself  known  even  in  Philadelphia.  I 
aim  high. 

"So  far  as  my  personal  interests  are  concerned,  defeat 
is  as  good  to  me  as  a  sweeping  victory — in  fact,  I  think 
better,  as  a  man  of  my  kind  has  a  chance  of  coming 
forward  more  rapidly  in  a  minority  than  in  a  majority 
party.  However,  about  all  such  things,  I  am  disposed 
to  think  that  whatever  happens  is  for  the  best.  Talent 
and  energy  can  nearly  always  convert  defeats  into  vic- 
tories. I  could  easily  have  started  a  paper  during  the 
campaign,  and  could,  I  think,  readily  do  so  now.  But 
I  dont  feel  like  going  back  into  newspaper  harness. 
The  best  thing  for  me,  I  think,  is  to  keep  out  of  news- 
papers for  a  while." 

Thus  he  wrote  of  himself.  What  he  meant  by  want- 
ing to  be  a  speaker  "not  as  a  matter  of  vanity  or  for 
the  mere  pleasure  of  the  thing,"  but  to  increase  his 
"power  and  usefulness,"  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
tell  any  one  as  yet.  He  must  wait  for  time  to  show  even 
his  mother  the  exalted  purpose  he  had  in  his  heart  of 
hearts. 

When  he  wrote  to  his  mother,  Mr.  George  believed  that 
Tilden  had  been  elected  President.  It  was  conceded  that 
the  Democratic  candidate  had  received  the  largest  popular 
vote,  and  that  from  the  States  where  the  returns  were  un- 
disputed he  had   received   one  hundred  and  eighty   four 


272  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [187&-1877 

electoral  votes,  so  that  he  lacked  just  one  vote  of  the  num- 
ber required  to  elect,  while  Hayes  lacked  twenty.  The 
difficulty  lay  with  the  returns  of  Oregon  and  three  fSouth- 
ern  States — Louisiana,  South  Carolina  and  Florida — 
which  were  contested.  This  condition  of  things,  involv- 
ing such  great  consequences,  could  not  fail  to  stir  to  the 
depths  an  active  participant  in  public  affairs  like  Henry 
George.  As  weeks  passed  without  a  settlement  and  the 
time  fixed  by  the  constitution  for  the  inauguration  of  the 
new  President  approached,  he  became  so  aroused  that  in 
January  he  wrote  a  long  presentation  of  the  matter  and 
put  it  in  the  form  of  an  eight  paged  pamphlet  entitled, 
*'Who  shall  be  President  ? — A  Survey  of  the  Political  Situ- 
ation," saying  that  the  fact  that  who  should  be  President 
should  be  treated  as  an  open  question  was  "both  scandalous 
and  dangerous" — scandalous  because  the  uncertainty  im- 
implied  "a  doubt  of  the  efficacy  of  law";  and  dangerous 
^'because  when  law  fails,  force  is  the  necessary  resort."  He 
made  a  careful  analysis  of  the  matter  to  show  why  he  be- 
lieved Tilden  was  entitled  to  the  office,  giving  his  explana- 
tion of  the  persistent  contention  by  the  Hayes  partisans 
that  "a  coup  d'etat  was  contemplated." 

It  was  Mr.  George's  intention  to  send  this  paper  East, 
where  he  thought  it  would  get  consideration;  but  before 
he  could  carry  out  his  plan  news  came  that  Tilden  had 
given  his  consent  to  remand  the  question  of  returns  to 
the  decision  of  an  electoral  commission — a  tribunal  spe- 
cially created  by  Congress.  This  commission,  composed 
of  eight  Kepublicans  and  seven  Democrats,  by  a  party 
vote  decided  in  favour  of  the  Eepublican  electors  in 
every  case,  thus  awarding  185  electoral  votes  to  Hayes 
and  184  to  Tilden,  and  placing  Hayes  in  the  Presidential 
chair. 

Nine  years  after  this,  in  the  pages  of  his  "Protection  or 


Age,  36-37]  DISGUST  OF  TILDEN  273 

Free  Trade,"  Henry  George  gave  expression  to  a  great 
change  of  feeling  towards  Mr.  Tilden.^ 

"A  wealthy  citizen  whom  I  once  supported,  and  called 
on  others  to  support,  for  the  Presidential  chair,  under 
the  impression  that  he  was  a  Democrat  of  the  school  of 
Jefferson,  has  recently  published  a  letter  advising  us  to 
steel  plate  our  coasts,  lest  foreign  navies  come  over  and 
bombard  us.  This  counsel  of  timidity  has  for  its  hardly 
disguised  object  the  inducing  of  such  an  enormous  ex- 
penditure of  public  money  as  will  prevent  any  demand 
for  the  reduction  of  taxation,  and  thus  secure  to  the 
tariff  rings  a  longer  lease  of  plunder.  It  well  illus- 
trates the  essential  meanness  of  the  protectionist  spirit 
— a  spirit  that  no  more  comprehends  the  true  dignity 
of  the  American  Kepublic  and  the  grandeur  of  her  pos- 
sibilities than  it  cares  for  the  material  interests  of  the 
great  masses  of  her  citizens — 'the  poor  people  who  have 
to  work.' " 

1  Chap.  XXX,  (Memorial  Editiou,  p.  327). 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LECTUEE  AT  THE  UmVEESITY   OF 
CALIFOEmA. 

1877.  Age,  38. 

AS  by  distinct  stages,  Henry  George's  mind  showed  de- 
XjL  velopment.  In  the  first  half  of  1877  came  the  last 
two  stages  before  it  was  to  break  into  full  flower.  The 
first  of  these  took  the  form  of  a  lecture  on  political  econ- 
omy before  the  University  of  California;  the  second,  of 
an  oration  on  the  Fourth  of  July. 

Scarcely  had  the  Presidential  question  ceased  to  absorb 
him  when  he  was  invited  to  deliver  several  lectures  before 
the  students  and  faculty  of  the  University  of  California 
which  now  had  been  established  permanently  at  Berkeley, 
adjacent  to  Oakland.  He  Avas  to  be  one  of  a  number  of 
prominent  men  to  give  a  course  of  addresses  on  various 
topics,  and  the  first  subject  that  it  was  agreed  he  should 
treat  was  "The  Study  of  Political  Economy." 

There  was  no  separate  chair  of  political  economy  in 
the  University  and  now  came  talk  of  establishing  one, 
with  George  to  fill  it.  His  Chinese  article;  his  pamphlet, 
"Our  Land  and  Land  Policy";  and  many  of  his  "Evening 
Post"  editorials  marked  him  as  qualified  to  hold  such  a 
position.  It  was  thought  that  the  lectures  he  was  about 
to  deliver  would  make  the  ground  of  his  appointment. 

274 


Age,  38]  HOPE  OF  COLLEGE  CHAIR  275 

Touching  this  he  never  afterwards  had  much  to  say,  in  the 
family  observing  that  there  had  been  talk  of  a  chair  and 
of  him  to  fill  it.  He  never  mentioned  who  of  his  friends 
were  interested  in  the  project.  At  the  time,  possibly  from 
his  old  habit  of  secretiveness,  but  more  probably  from  a 
feeling  of  modesty  until  the  project  should  take  definite 
form,  he  said  nothing  about  the  matter  to  his  wife,  except 
indirectly  remarking  that  there  was  no  title  in  the  world  he 
cared  to  have  save  that  of  "Professor." 

At  any  rate,  on  March  9,  accompanied  by  his  friend, 
Assemblyman  James  V.  Coffey,  he  lunched  with  Professor 
John  Le  Conte,  the  President  of  the  University,  after 
which  the  three  men  proceeded  to  the  hall  where  the  stu- 
dents and  most  of  the  faculty  were  gathered.  The  lec- 
turer read  from  his  manuscript  and  occupied  about  three 
quarters  of  an  hour — probably  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
of  astonishment  for  regents  and  faculty. 

He  said  that  as  his  lecture  was  to  be  more  suggestive 
than  didactic,  he  would  not  attempt  to  outline  the  laws 
of  political  economy,  nor  even,  where  his  own  views  were 
strong  and  definite,  to  touch  upon  unsettled  questions. 
He  wished  to  show  the  simplicity  and  certainty  of  a  science 
too  generally  regarded  as  complex  and  indeterminate;  to 
point  out  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be  studied,  and  to 
suggest  reasons  which  make  that  study  worthy  of  attention. 

"The  science  which  investigates  the  laws  of  the  pro- 
duction and  distribution  of  wealth  concerns  itself  with 
matters  which  among  us  occupy  more  than  nine  tenths 
of  human  effort,  and  perhaps  nine  tenths  of  human 
thought.  In  its  province  are  included  all  that  relates 
to  the  wages  of  labour  and  the  earnings  of  capital;  all 
regulations  of  trade;  all  questions  of  currency  and 
finance;  all  taxes  and  public  disbursements — in  short, 
everything  that  can  in  any  way  affect  the  amount  of 
wealth  which  a  community  can  secure,  or  the  propor- 


276  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1877 

tion  in  which  that  wealth  will  be  distributed  between 
individuals.  Though  not  the  science  of  government,  it 
is  essential  to  the  science  of  government.  Though  it 
takes  direct  cognisance  only  of  what  are  termed  the 
selfish  instincts,  yet  in  doing  so  it  includes  the  basis  of 
all  higher  qualities.'' 

A  hundred  years  had  elapsed,  the  lecturer  said,  since 
Adam  Smith  published  his  "Wealth  of  Nations,"  yet  po- 
litical economy  had  made  little  progress.  This  he  thought 
"referable  partly  to  the  nature  of  the  science  itself  and 
partly  to  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  cultivated." 

"In  the  first  place,  the  very  importance  of  the  sub- 
jects with  which  political  economy  deals  raises  obstacles 
in  its  way.  The  discoveries  of  other  sciences  may  chal- 
lenge pernicious  ideas,  but  the  conclusions  of  political 
economy  involve  pecuniary  interests,  and  thus  thrill  di- 
rectly the  sensitive  pocket-nerve.  For,  as  no  social  ad- 
justment can  exist  without  interesting  a  larger  or 
smaller  class  in  its  maintenance,  political  economy  at 
every  point  is  apt  to  come  in  contact  with  some  interest 
or  other  which  regards  it  as  the  silversmiths  of  Ephesus 
did  those  who  taught  the  uselessness  of  presenting 
shrines  to  Diana.  .  .  .  What,  then,  must  be  the  op- 
position which  inevitably  meets  a  science  that  deals  with 
tariffs  and  subsidies,  with  banking  interests  and  bonded 
debts,  with  trades-unions  and  combinations  of  capital, 
with  taxes  and  licenses  and  land  tenures !  It  is  not 
ignorance  alone  that  offers  opposition,  but  ignorance 
backed  by  interest,  and  made  fierce  by  passions. 

"Now,  while  the  interests  thus  aroused  furnish  the 
incentive,  the  complexity  of  the  phenomena  with  which 
political  economy  deals  makes  it  comparatively  easy  to 
palm  off'  on  the  unreasoning  all  sorts  of  absurdities  as 
political  economy.  .  .  .  But  what  is  far  worse  than 
any  amount  of  pretentious  quackery  is,  that  the  science 
even  as  taught  by  the  masters  is  in  large  measure  dis- 
jointed and  indeterminate.     As  laid  down  in  the  best 


Age,  38]  THE   DISJOINTED   SCIENCE  277 

text-books,  political  economy  is  like  a  shapely  statue 
but  half  hewn  from  the  rock — like  a  landscape,  part  of 
which  stands  out  clear  and  distinct,  but  over  the  rest 
of  which  the  mists  still  roll.  .  .  .  Strength  and 
subtilty  have  been  wasted  in  intellectual  hair  splitting 
and  super-refinements,  in  verbal  discussions  and  dis- 
putes, while  the  great  high-roads  have  remained  un- 
explored. And  thus  has  been  given  to  a  simple  and 
attractive  science  an  air  of  repellent  abstruseness  and 
uncertainty." 

And  from  the  same  fundamental  cause  had  arisen  an 
idea  of  political  economy  which  had  arrayed  against  it 
the  feelings  and  prejudices  of  those  who  had  most  to 
gain  by  its  cultivation. 

"The  name  of  political  economy  has  been  constantly 
invoked  against  every  effort  of  the  working  classes  to 
increase  their  wages  or  decrease  their  hours  of  labour. 
.  .  .  Take  the  best  and  most  extensively  circulated 
text-books.  While  they  insist  upon  freedom  for  capital, 
while  they  justify  on  the  ground  of  utility  the  selfish 
greed  that  seeks  to  pile  fortune  on  fortune,  and  the 
niggard  spirit  that  steels  the  heart  to  the  wail  of  dis- 
tress, what  sign  of  substantial  promise  do  they  hold  out 
to  the  working  man  save  that  he  should  refrain  from 
rearing  children? 

"What  can  we  expect  when  hands  that  should  offer 
bread  thus  hold  out  a  stone?  Is  it  in  human  nature 
that  the  masses  of  men,  vaguely  but  keenly  conscious 
of  the  injustice  of  existing  social  conditions,  feeling  that 
they  are  somehow  cramped  and  hurt,  without  knowing 
what  cramps  and  hurts  them,  should  welcome  truth  in 
this  partial  form ;  that  they  should  take  to  a  science 
which,  as  it  is  presented  to  them,  seems  but  to  justify 
injustice,  to  canonise  selfishness  by  throwing  around 
it  the  halo  of  utility,  and  to  present  Herod  rather  than 
Vincent  de  Paul  as  the  typical  benefactor  of  humanity? 
Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  should  turn  in  their 


278  LIFE  OF  HENSY  GEORGE  [i877 

ignorance  to  the  absurdities  of  protection  and  the  crazy 
theories  generally  designated  by  the  name  of  socialism  ?" 

What  he  wished  to  impress  upon  his  hearers  was  the 
"real  simplicity  of  what  is  generally  deemed  an  abstruse 
science,  and  the  exceeding  ease  with  which  it  may  be  pur- 
sued." 

"For  the  study  of  political  economy  you  need  no  spe- 
cial knowledge,  no  extensive  library,  no  costly  labora- 
tory. You  do  not  even  need  text-books  nor  teachers,  if 
you  will  but  think  for  yourselves.  All  that  you  need  is 
care  in  reducing  complex  phenomena  to  their  elements, 
in  distinguishing  the  essential  from  the  accidental,  and 
in  applying  the  simple  laws  of  human  action  with  which 
you  are  familiar.  Take  nobody's  opinion  for  granted; 
'try  all  things :  hold  fast  that  which  is  good.'  In  this 
way,  the  opinions  of  others  will  help  you  by  their  sug- 
gestions, elucidations  and  corrections;  otherwise  they 
will  be  to  you  but  as  words  to  a  parrot.  .  .  .  All 
this  array  of  professors,  all  this  paraphernalia  of  learn- 
ing, cannot  educate  a  man.  They  can  but  help  him  to 
educate  himself.  Here  you  may  obtain  the  tools;  but 
they  will  be  useful  only  to  him  who  can  use  them.  A 
monkey  with  a  microscope,  a  mule  packing  a  library, 
are  fit  emblems  of  the  men — and  unfortunately,  they 
are  plenty — who  pass  through  the  whole  educational 
machinery,  and  come  out  but  learned  fools,  crammed 
with  knowledge  which  they  cannot  use — all  the  more 
pitiable,  all  the  more  contemptible,  all  the  more  in  the 
way  of  real  progress,  because  they  pass,  with  themselves 
and  others,  as  educated  men." 

And  then  addressing  himself  directly  to  the  students, 
he  said: 

"I  trust  you  have  felt  the  promptings  of  that  highest 
of  ambitions — the  desire  to  be  useful  in  your  day  and 
generation;  the  hope  that  in  something,  even  though 


Age,  38]  HIGHEST   OF  AMBITIONS  279 

little,  those  that  come  after  ma}^  be  wiser,  better,  hap- 
pier that  you  have  lived.  Or,  if  you  have  never  felt 
this,  I  trust  the  feeling  is  only  latent,  ready  to  spring 
forth  when  you  see  the  need. 

"Gentlemen,  if  you  but  look  you  will  see  the  need ! 
You  are  of  the  favoured  few,  for  the  fact  that  you  are 
here,  students  in  a  university  of  this  character,  be- 
speaks for  you  the  happy  accidents  that  fall  only  to 
the  lot  of  the  few,  and  you  cannot  yet  realise,  as  you 
may  by  and  by  realise,  how  the  hard  struggle  which  is 
the  lot  of  so  many  may  cramp  and  bind  and  distort — 
how  it  may  dull  the  noblest  faculties  and  chill  the  warm- 
est impulses,  and  grind  out  of  men  the  joy  and  poetry 
of  life ;  how  it  may  turn  into  the  lepers  of  society  those 
who  should  be  its  adornment,  and  transmute,  into  ver- 
min to  prey  upon  it  and  into  wild  beasts  to  fly  at  its 
throat,  the  brain  and  muscle  that  should  go  to  its  en- 
richment !  These  things  may  never  yet  have  forced 
themselves  on  your  attention ;  l)ut  still,  if  you  will  think 
of  it,  you  cannot  fail  to  see  enough  want  and  wretched- 
ness, even  in  our  own  country  to-day,  to  move  you  to 
sadness  and  pity,  to  nerve  you  to  high  resolve ;  to  arouse 
in  you  the  sympathy  that  dares,  and  the  indignation 
that  burns  to  overthrow  a  wrong. 

"Political  economy  alone  can  give  the  answer.  And 
if  you  trace  out,  in  the  way  I  have  tried  to  outline,  the 
laws  of  the  production  and  exchange  of  wealth,  you  will 
see  the  causes  of  social  weakness  and  disease  in  enact- 
ments which  selfishness  has  imposed  on  ignorance, 
and  in  maladjustments  entirely  within  our  own  con- 
trol.    .     .     . 

"You  will  see  that  the  true  law  of  social  life  is  the 
law  of  love,  the  law  of  liberty,  the  law  of  each  for  all 
and  all  for  each ;  that  the  golden  rule  of  morals  is  also 
the  golden  rule  of  the  science  of  wealth ;  that  the  high- 
est expressions  of  religious  truth  include  the  widest 
generalisations  of  political  economy." 

So  much  for  the  nature  of  the  address.     The  lecturer 
read  his  audience  correctly,  for  when  he  went  home  he 


280  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i877 

told  his  wife  that  his  utterances  had  been  well  received 
by  the  students,  but  by  the  authorities  with  a  polite  and 
dignified  quietness  that  made  him  think  that  he  might  not 
be  invited  to  lecture  again. 

What  wonder !  Was  this  a  sample  of  what  the  man 
was  to  preach?  Perhaps  much  of  what  he  said  was  as 
plain  and  fair  as  common  sense;  but  did  he  propose  to  go 
wide  of  the  beaten  path — to  set  up  a  new  scheme  of 
things  ?  Were  the  faculty  and  regents  to  be  committed  to 
new  principles — principles  that  they  had  not  yet  even 
considered;  that  wrenched  at  old  things,  that  jarred  to 
their  centre  institutions  which,  right  or  wrong,  had  come 
down  through  the  generations?  Was  this  Inspector  of 
Gas  Meters,  this  warring  newspaper  editor,  this  political 
speech-maker,  who  had  never  given  an  hour's  study  inside 
a  university  to  continue  to  proclaim  among  them  that 
"all  this  array  of  professors,  all  this  paraphernalia  of 
learning,  cannot  educate  a  man,"  and  prate  of  "a  monkey 
with  a  microscope"  and  "a  mule  packing  a  library"  as 
emblems  of  men  "passing  through  the  educational  ma- 
chinery" ?  And  then  were  they — the  professors  and  the 
regents — to  find  themselves  ivillij-nilly  bumping  against 
new  problems  at  every  turn  ?  Starting  in  this  way,  where 
was  the  thing  to  stop  ? 

This  fear  of  heresy  and  revolutionary  utterance  seemed 
to  govern  some.  Others  had  a  more  material  reason  for 
opposing  the  San  Francisco  man.  Through  a  charge  by 
George  in  the  columns  of  the  "Evening  Post"  in  1874  of 
peculation  in  connection  with  the  building  of  North  Hall 
or  the  College  of  Letters,  and  a  legislative  investigation 
that  followed,  the  Chairman  of  the  Building  Committee 
of  the  Board  of  Kegents,  was  requested  by  the  Governor 
of  California  to  resign,  which  he  did.  But  he  left  behind 
him  for  the  "Post's"  editor  the  resentment  of  his  friends 


Age,  38]  CHAIR   UNFILLED  281 

and  of  those  on  or  connected  with  tlie  Board  whose  lax 
attention  to  duty  had  permitted  the  scandal  to  occur. 

Thus  for  perhaps  personal  and  impersonal  reasons  Mr. 
George  was  quietly  forgotten.  Nothing  was  said  about 
a  chair  by  those  who  had  the  power  to  confer  it.  He 
was  not  even  invited  to  speak  again,  although  brief  notes 
in  his  diary  lead  to  the  inference  that  he  had  commenced 
work  on  a  second  lecture.  Yet  whatever  disappointment 
arose  from  this  could  not  have  been  lasting,  as  there  was 
uninterrupted  interchange  of  social  visits  with  Professor 
John  Le  Conte  and  his  brother,  Professor  Joseph  Le 
Conte,  the  physicist,  and  v/ith  other  friends  at  Berkeley.^ 
And  his  high  regard  for  universities  as  institutions  of 
progressive  thought  could  not  have  been  much,  if  any,  di- 
minished by  this  incident.  Indeed,  two  years  later,  when 
about  to  launch  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  it  was  his  expec- 
tation that  at  least  some  of  the  professed  teachers  of  polit- 
ical economy  would  take  up  the  truths  he  endeavoured  to 
make  clear  and  '-'fit  them  in  with  what  of  truth  was  already 
understood  and  thought."  It  was  not  until  subsequently 
that  a  change  came  "o'er  the  spirit  of  his  dream." 

1  His  friend  Prof.  William  Swinton  had  resigned  three  years  before, 
and  going  to  New  York,  had  entered  upon  a  remarkably  successful  career 
of  text-book  writing. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
A    FOURTH    OF    JULY    ORATION". 

1877.  Age,  38. 

NOW  came  the  last  stage  before  the  writing  of  "Prog- 
ress and  Poverty." 

The  oration  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1877,  like  the  lec- 
ture before  the  University  of  California,  showed  the  broad 
sweep  that  Mr.  George's  mind  was  taking.  "Our  Land 
and  Land  Policy"  regarded  politico-economical  conditions 
jjrimarily  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Californian;  his 
mind  now  enveloped  the  world.  aSTot  the  progress  of  Cali- 
fornia, but  human  progress,  was  what  engaged  him;  not 
particulars,  but  generals;  not  a  question  of  policy,  but 
the  enunciation  of  the  eternal  law  of  "each  for  all  and 
ail  for  each." 

And  as  the  lecture  was  the  exordium,  the  Fourth  of 
July  speech  became  the  peroration.  One  pointed  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  natural  order,  the  other  to  the  necessity 
of  following  it.  One  turned  to  the  fundamentals  of  the 
science  relating  to  the  social  conditions  under  which  civ- 
ilised men  should  get  their  daily  bread ;  the  other  sounded 
the  war  clarions  and  gave  the  battle  cry  of  "liberty  and 
equality."  One  came  from  the  solitary — the  man  of  the 
closet;  the  other  from  the  man  of  the  practical  world  of 
struggle  and  conflict.     Each  was  the  complement  of  the 

282 


Age,  38]  INDEPENDENCE   DAY  ORATOR  283 

other — the  two  primary  elements  in  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty"— the  reflections  of  the  thinker  who  hands  down  the 
law;  the  call  of  the  leader  who  marshals  the  hosts. 

A  season  of  depression  having  set  in,  and  the  income 
of  the  Inspector  of  Gas  Meters  having  diminished  very 
considerably,  husband  and  wife  decided  to  reduce  domestic 
expenses.  They  gave  up  the  San  Francisco  house,  and 
storing  part  of  the  furniture,  moved  the  remainder  to 
Saucelito,  a  pretty  little  village  on  the  north  side  of  the 
bay.  There  they  took  a  six-roomed  cottage,  where  they 
lived  comfortably  during  the  summer  months,  the  wife 
doing  the  domestic  work  herself.  During  these  Sauce- 
lito  days  Mr.  George  did  a  good  deal  of  reading  and  think- 
ing. He  also  spent  much  time  with  his  wife,  frequently 
taking  little  walks  or  rides;  and  with  his  children,  tak- 
ing them  swimming  or  sailing,  or  helping  to  make  or 
float  toy  boats.  Moreover,  there  was  the  frequent  inter- 
ruption of  friends  from  San  Francisco.  But  the  matter 
of  chief  importance  was  the  Fourth  of  July  speech. 

It  was  the  custom  for  the  city  of  San  Francisco  to  have 
a  military  parade  and  civic  exercises  in  celebration  of 
the  nation's  birthday,  and  towards  the  middle  of  June 
Henry  George  was  notified  that  he  had  been  chosen  to  be 
'^the  Orator  of  the  Day"  for  that  year.  He  had  been  ex- 
l^ecting  this;  had,  in  fact,  begun  work  on  his  oration — 
"The  American  Eepublic." 

The  afternoon  of  the  Fourth  was  sultry,  but  the  old 
California  Theatre  where  the  exercises  were  held  was 
crowded.  First  came  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  poem  of  the  day,  and  then  the  ora- 
tion. There  had  been  a  miscalculation  as  to  length,  and 
the  speech  Avas  long  for  the  exercises.  Nevertheless  the 
effort — the  greatest  that  Henry  George  had  yet  made — was 
well  sustained. 


284  .  LIFE   OF   HENEY   GEORGE  [i877 

It  did  not  take  him  long  to  come  to  the  consmning 
thought  that  would  not  give  him  rest. 

"We  are  yet  laying  the  foundations  of  empire,  while 
stronger  run  the  currents  of  change  and  mightier  are 
the  forces  that  marshal  and  meet.  .  .  .  For  let  us 
not  disguise  it — repuhlican  government  is  yet  but  an 
experiment.  That  it  has  worked  well  so  far,  determines 
nothing.  That  republican  institutions  would  work  well 
under  the  social  conditions  of  the  youth  of  the  Republic 
— cheap  land,  high  wages  and  little  distinction  between 
rich  and  poor — there  was  never  any  doubt,  for  they 
were  working  well  before.  .  .  .  The  doubt  about 
republican  institutions  is  as  to  whether  they  will  work 
when  population  becomes  dense,  wages  low,  and  a  great 
gulf  separates  rich  and  poor.  Can  we  speak  of  it  as 
a  doubt  ?  Nothing  in  political  philosophy  can  be  clearer 
than  that  under  such  conditions  republican  government 
must  break  down. 

"Six  hundred  liveried  retainers  followed  the  great 
Earl  of  Warwick  to  Parliament ;  but  in  this  young  State 
there  is  already  a  simple  citizen^  who  could  discharge 
any  one  of  thousands  of  men  from  their  employment, 
who  controls  2,200  miles  of  railroad  and  telegraph,  and 
millions  of  acres  of  land;  and  has  the  power  of  levying 
toll  on  traffic  and  travel  over  an  area  twice  that  of  the 
original  thirteen  States.  Warwick  was  a  king-maker. 
Would  it  add  to  the  real  power  of  our  simple  citizen 
were  we  to  dub  him  an  earl  ?     .     .     . 

"Here  is  the  test :  whatever  conduces  to  the  equal 
and  inalienable  rights  of  men  is  good — let  us  preserve 
it.  Whatever  denies  or  interferes  with  those  equal 
rights  is  bad — let  us  sweep  it  away.     .     .     . 

"Wealth  in  itself  is  a  good,  not  an  evil;  but  wealth 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  corrupts  on  one 
side,  and  degrades  on  the  other.  No  chain  is  stronger 
than  its  weakest  link,  and  the  ultimate  condition  of  any 
people  must  be  the  condition  of  its  lowest  class.     If  the 

1  Leland  Stanford. 


Ago,  38]  APOSTROPHE  TO  LIBEETY  285 

low  are  not  brought  up,  the  high  must  be  brought  down. 
In  the  long  run,  no  nation  can  be  freer  than  its  most 
oppressed,  richer  than  its  poorest,  wiser  than  its  most 
ignorant.  This  is  the  fiat  of  the  eternal  justice  that 
rules  the  world.  It  stands  forth  on  every  page  of  his- 
tory. It  is  what  the  Sphinx  says  to  us  as  she  sitteth 
in  desert  sand,  while  the  winged  bulls  of  Nineveh  bear 
her  witness !'' 

The  oration  closed  with  a  majestic  apostrophe  to  Lib- 
erty, that  became  the  key-note,  indeed,  with  but  few 
changes,  the  very  language  of  "Progress  and  Poverty."^ 

"They  who  look  upon  Liberty  as  having  accomplished 
her  mission,  when  she  has  abolished  hereditary  privi- 
leges and  given  men  the  ballot,  who  think  of  her  as  hav- 
ing no  further  relations  to  the  every-day  affairs  of  life, 
have  not  seen  her  real  grandeur-^to  them  the  poets  who 
have  sung  of  her  must  seem  rhapsodists,  and  her  mar- 
tyrs fools !  As  the  sun  is  the  lord  of  life,  as  well  as 
•  of  light;  as  his  beams  not  merely  pierce  the  clouds,  but 
support  all  growth,  supply  all  motion,  and  call  forth 
from  what  would  otherwise  be  a  cold  and  inert  mass, 
all  the  infinite  diversities  of  being  and  beauty,  so  is 
Liberty  to  mankind.  It  is  not  for  an  abstraction  that 
men  have  toiled  and  died;  that  in  every  age  the  wit- 
nesses of  Liberty  have  stood  forth,  and  the  martyrs  of 
Liberty  have  suffered.  It  was  for  more  than  this  that 
matrons  handed  the  Queen  Anne  musket  from  its  rest, 
and  that  maids  bid  their  lovers  go  to  death ! 

"We  speak  of  Liberty  as  one  thing,  and  of  virtue, 
wealth,  knowledge,  invention,  national  strength  and  na- 
tional independence  as  other  things.  But,  of  all  these, 
Liberty  is  the  source,  the  mother,  the  necessary  condi- 
tion. She  is  to  virtue  what  light  is  to  colour,  to  wealth 
what  sunshine  is  to  grain;  to  knowledge  what  eyes  are 
to  the  sight.     She  is  the  genius  of  invention,  the  brawn 

1 "  Progress  and  Poverty,"  Book  X,  Chap,  v 

(Memorial  Edition,  pp.  543-545). 


286  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [mi 

of  national  strength,  the  spirit  of  national  independ- 
ence !  Where  Liberty  rises,  there  virtue  grows,  wealth 
increases,  knowledge  expands,  invention  multiplies  hu- 
man powers,  and  in  strength  and  spirit  the  freer  nation 
rises  among  her  neighbours  as  Saul  amid  his  brethren — 
taller  and  fairer.  Where  Liberty  sinks,  there  virtue 
fades,  wealth  diminishes,  knowledge  is  forgotten,  in- 
vention ceases,  and  empires  once  mighty  in  arms  and 
arts  become  a  helpless  prey  to  freer  barbarians ! 

"Only  in  broken  gleams  and  partial  light  has  the  sun 
of  Liberty  yet  beamed  among  men,  yet  all  progress  hath 
she  called  forth. 

"Liberty  came  to  a  race  of  slaves  crouching  under 
Eg}"ptian  whips,  and  led  them  forth  from  the  House 
of  Bondage.  She  hardened  them  in  the  desert  and 
made  of  them  a  race  of  conquerors.  The  free  spirit  of  the 
Mosaic  law  took  their  thinkers  up  to  heights  where  they 
beheld  the  unity  of  God,  and  inspired  their  poets  with 
strains  that  yet  phrase  the  highest  exaltations  of  thought. 
Liberty  dawned  on  the  Phoenician  Coast,  and  ships 
passed  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  to  plough  the  unknown 
sea.  She  broke  in  partial  light  on  Greece,  and  marble 
grew  to  shapes  of  ideal  beauty,  words  became  the  instru- 
ments of  subtlest  thought,  and  against  the  scanty  mili- 
tia of  free  cities  the  countless  hosts  of  the  Great  King- 
broke  like  surges  against  a  rock.  She  cast  her  beams 
on  the  four-acre  farms  of  Italian  husbandmen,  and 
born  of  her  strength  a  power  came  forth  that  conquered 
the  world !  She  glinted  from  shields  of  German  war- 
riors, and  Augustus  wept  his  legions.  Out  of  the  night 
that  followed  her  eclipse,  her  slanting  rays  fell  again 
on  free  cities,  and  a  lost  learning  revived,  modern  civi- 
lisation began,  a  new  world  was  unveiled;  and  as  Lib- 
erty grew  so  grew  art,  wealth,  power,  knowledge  and 
refinement.  In  the  history  of  every  nation  we  may  read 
the  same  truth.  It  was  the  strength  born  of  Magna 
Charta  that  won  Crecy  and  Agincourt.  It  was  the  re- 
vival of  Liberty  from  the  despotism  of  the  Tudors  that 
glorified  the  Elizabethan  age.  It  was  the  spirit  that 
brought  a  crowned  tyrant  to  the  block  that  planted  here 


Age,  38]  WHO  WILL  TRUST  LIBERTY  287 

the  seed  of  a  mighty  tree.  It  was  the  energy  of 
ancient  freedom  that,  the  moment  it  had  gained  unity, 
made  Spain  the  mightiest  power  of  the  world,  only  to 
fall  to  the  lowest  depth  of  weakness  when  tyranny  suc- 
ceeded Liberty.  See,  in  France,  all  intellectual  vigour 
dying  under  the  tyranny  of  the  seventeenth  century 
to  revive  in  splendour  as  Liberty  awoke  in  the  eigh- 
teenth, and  on  the  enfranchisement  of  the  French 
peasants  in  the  Great  Eevolution,  basing  the  won- 
derful strength  that  has  in  our  time  laughed  at  dis- 
aster.    .     .     . 

"Who  is  Liberty  that  we  should  doubt  her;  that  we 
should  set  bounds  to  her,  and  say,  'Thus  far  shall  thou 
come  and  no  further!'  Is  she  not  peace?  is  she  not 
prosperity  ?  is  she  not  progress  ?  nay,  is  she  not  the  goal 
towards  which  all  progress  strives? 

"Not  here ;  but  yet  she  cometh !  Saints  have  seen 
her  in  their  visions;  seers  have  seen  her  in  their  trance. 
To  heroes  has  she  spoken,  and  their  hearts  were  strong; 
to  martyrs,  and  the  flames  were  cool ! 

"She  is  not  here,  but  yet  she  cometh.  Lo !  her  feet 
are  on  the  mountains — the  call  of  her  clarion  rings  on 
every  breeze ;  the  banners  of  her  dawning  fret  the  sky ! 
Who  will  hear  her  as  she  calleth ;  who  will  bid  her  come 
and  welcome  ?  Who  will  turn  to  her  ?  who  will  speak  for 
her?  who  will  stand  for  her  while  she  yet  hath  need?" 

Who  would  stand  for  liberty,  indeed !  /;  is  kind  of  Lib- 
erty? There  was  general  wonderment  at  the  orator's  line 
imagery  and  eloquent  periods,  but  who  comprehended  his 
philosophy?  The  stage  was  crowded  with  men  distin- 
guished in  the  city  and  the  State.  Some  of  these  were 
conspicuous  representatives  of  the  institutions  which  Mr. 
George  more  than  vaguely  threatened,  though  they  made 
no  sign.  The  great  audience  applauded  the  flowing  and 
lofty  language,  but  who  save  the  personal  friends  scat- 
tered about  understood  that  the  speaker  was  striking  at 
the  castle  of  vested  rights — private  property  in  land  ?     As 


288  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [i877 

for  the  press,  its  attitude  was  not  very  encouraging,  the 
friendliest  paper,  the  "Examiner,"  saying  faintly  that  "the 
oration  was  good  throughout  and  full  of  food  for  thought," 
while  the  most  hostile,  the  "News  Letter,"  observed  that 
the  "gas  measurer  .  .  .  kindly  spoke  for  several  hours 
on  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  and  other  school-reader  topics." 
Privately  the  newspaper  men  expressed  surprise  that 
"Harry  George"  could  write  so  well. 

Shortly  following  this  event  the  family  moved  back  to 
San  Francisco,  taking  a  house  on  Second  Street,  Eincon 
Hill,  just  around  the  corner  from  the  former  Harrison 
Street  residence.  The  new  house  was  dusty  in  the  dry 
season  from  the  heavy  travel  through  the  street  to  and 
from  the  wharves,  but  it  was  comfortable  withal,  and  the 
rent  low — an  important  consideration  in  that  period  of 
general  depression. 

Mr.  George  was  in  the  troubles  of  moving  when  sud- 
denly he  found  himself  pitchforked  into  politics.  In  his 
diary  he  noted  on  August  20,  "Found  I  had  been  nomi- 
nated for  the  State  Senate  at  Charter  Oak  Hall,"  an  inde- 
pendent political  organisation.  Five  days  later  the  diary 
showed  that  he  was  "nominated  last  night  by  Anti- 
Coolies,"  a  workingmen's  anti-Chinese  movement.  But  he 
was  not  to  be  drawn  from  his  seclusion  just  then,  and 
on  Sunday,  August  36,  he  made  this  entry:  "John  M. 
Days  at  house  in  morning.  Went  to  office  and  wrote 
declination  to  Anti-Coolies.  Home  and  wrote  declination 
to  Charter  Oak,  and  sent  it  to  Days  by  Harry." 

And  so  for  the  first  time  in  a  number  of  years,  Henry 
George  was  a  spectator  of  political  affairs,  and  there  is 
little  to  note  up  to  election  day  early  in  September  otlier 
than  that  he  stayed  at  home  and  read,  among  the  books 
being  German  history.  Code  of  Civil  Procedure  and 
Knight's  "History  of  England." 


CHAPTEE   IX. 
"PEOGEESS    AND    POVEETY"    BEGUN. 

1877-1878.  Age,  38-39. 

UNDEE  date  of  September  18,  1877,  the  pocket  diary 
bears  the  simple  entry:  "Commenced  'Progress  and 
Poverty.'  "^ 

Another  child  was  expected  soon  to  be  added  to  the 
family  circle.  In  the  period  preceding  and  following  its 
advent  the  hiisband  was  tenderly  attentive.  He  spent  his 
time  chiefly  with  his  wife,  for  a  whole  month  not  leaving  the 
house  more  than  half  an  hour  each  day.  He  conversed 
on  all  manner  of  cheering  subjects  and  read  much  aloud — 
newspapers  in  the  mornings,  and  magazines  or  books 
later.  George  Eliot's  "Daniel  Deronda"  had  just  reached 
the  Pacific  Coast.  Mr.  George  was  not  much  of  a  novel 
reader,  yet  he  read  this  to  his  wife,  and  afterwards  "Mid- 
dlemarch,"  which  he  liked  better.  He  regarded  George 
Eliot  as  a  woman  of  great  powers. 

1  Although  the  work  was  begun  on  Sept.  18,  the  diary  entry  was  not 
made  until  later,  as  the  title,  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  selected  from 
among  several,  as  one  of  his  note  books  shows,  was  not  decided  upon 
until  the  writing  had  begun  to  take  form.  In  a  speech  in  1893  (on  "  the 
Single  Tax,''  Art  Institute,  Chicago,  Aug.  29)  Mr.  George  said  :  "I  re- 
member how  much  the  name  of  '  Progress  and  Povertj' '  bothered  me 
when  it  first  suggested  itself  to  my  mind,  for  when  I  talked  to  my  friends 
about  it  some  thought  it  was  too  alliterative,  while  others  thought  that 
with  what  followed,  it  was  too  much  like  Benjamin  Franklin's  sign. " 

289 


290  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1877-1878 

But  in  the  parts  of  the  day  when  he  was  by  himself 
in  his  workroom,  and  lie  had  taken  his  favourite  thinking 
position — stretched  out  on  his  lounge,  smoking — his  mind 
reverted  to  the  old  problem  that  "appalled  and  tormented" 
and  would  not  let  him  rest.  The  whole  country  was  suf- 
fering an  industrial  depression.  In  many  of  the  larger 
centres  were  social  disorders.  Great  railroad  strikes  oc- 
curred in  the  East,  and  in  six  States  troops  were  under 
arms.  A  riot  broke  out  in  Baltimore,  and  in  Chicago 
artillery  was  used;  while  at  Pittsburg  more  than  two  hun- 
dred lives  were  lost  and  wealth  aggregating  $12,000,000 
destroyed. 

In  California  the  depression  was  deepened  by  a  drought 
during  the  preceding  winter  months  and  by  a  heavy  de- 
cline in  the  output  of  the  silver  mines  on  the  Comstock 
Lode,  which  brought  down  all  the  stocks  on  the  California 
exchanges  and  for  the  time  stopped  the  speculation  of  the 
outside  world  through  this  market.  At  this  period  when 
workmen  all  over  the  State  were  idle,  the  Central  Pacific 
Eailroad,  controlling  practically  every  mile  of  track  in  the 
State,  proposed  to  reduce  wages.  In  San  Francisco  work- 
men held  mass  meetings,  to  denounce  on  the  one  side  the 
great  monopolies,  and  particularly  the  railroad,  as  op- 
pressing the  masses  of  labouring  men;  and  on  the  other, 
Chinese  immigration,  as  subjecting  them  to  starvation 
competition.  But  there  was  no  disorder.  The  railroad 
magnates — Stanford,  Crocker,  Huntington  and  Hopkins — 
were  by  name  stigmatised,  and  in  some  few  instances  Chi- 
nese laundries  were  stoned  by  boys.  But  there  was  no 
head  or  form  to  the  discontent  until  timid  Privilege,  imder 
pretext  of  restraining  anarchy,  organised  under  the  leader- 
ship of  William  T.  Coleman  five  thousand  men  in  what 
was  called  a  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  armed  them 
with  pick  handles;  obtained  a  reserve  of  1,700  rifles  and 


Age,  38-39]  PEOGRESS  AND   POVERTY  291 

500  carbines  from  the  United  States  War  Department,  and 
supported  them  with  United  States  vessels,  which  were 
sent  down  to  the  metropolis  from  the  Navy  Yard  at  Mare 
Island  with  Gatling  gims  and  other  arms. 

The  uprising  among  the  society  savers  tended  to  bring 
to  a  head  discontent  among  the  disorganised  working 
classes.  All  that  was  needed  was  a  voice  to  ring  ont,  and 
the  voice  that  came — in  clear,  though  harsh  tones — was 
that  of  a  drayman  named  Dennis  Kearney,  an  uncouth, 
illiterate  young  man  who  had  a  facility  for  rough,  pro- 
fane speech.  He  had  denounced  working  men  and  had  car- 
ried a  club  in  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  but  now 
jumping  to  the  other  side,  he  arraigned  the  aristocrats  and 
monopolists,  and  Chinese  immigration,  and  in  the  tide  of 
passion  that  was  flowing  expressed  for  the  moment  the 
strong  feeling  of  his  hearers.  The  hungry  and  discon- 
tented flocked  to  his  standard  and  in  August  of  1877  he 
organised  the  "Working  men's  Party  of  California,"  which, 
strengthening  in  organisation  and  numbers,  by  the  com- 
mencement of  1878  threw  general  politics  into  chaos.  The 
social  discontent  had  changed  into  a  political  upheaval. 

It  was  amid  these  circumstances  inspiring  serious 
thought  that  Henry  George  sat  down  on  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1877,  to  commence  what  resulted  in  a  mo- 
mentous work.  The  question  that  engaged  his  mind  was 
the  phenomena  of  industrial  depressions.  One  had  thrown 
him  out  of  employment  when  a  boy  in  Philadelphia  in 
1858  and  sent  him  forth  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  new 
country.  Others  had  overtaken  him  while  he  was  a  strug- 
gling young  man.  Now  came  a  greater  than  all  the  others, 
manifesting  itself  all  over  the  United  States  in  discon- 
tent, turmoil  and  suffering. 

Mr.  George's  purpose  was  to  write  a  magazine  article 
on  the  subject  of  progress  and  poverty.     It  was  to  be. 


292  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1877-1878 

more  than  anything  else,  an  inquiry  into  the  cause  of 
industrial  depressions  and  of  increase  of  want  with  in- 
crease of  wealth,  and  was  to  indicate  a  remedy.  Using  all 
opportunities,  he  pursued  the  writing,  and  when  the  ar- 
ticle was  in  form  he  read  it  to  his  close  friend,  Dr.  Edward 
K.  Taylor,  who  had  formerly  been  Governor  Haight's  pri- 
vate secretaiy  and  was  now  his  law  partner  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Taylor  was  much  impressed;  so  much  so  that  he 
urged  George  to  reserve  publication  of  the  article  and  to 
give  the  subject  a  more  extended  treatment.  After  con- 
sideration, Mr.  George  decided  to  yield  to  the  suggestion, 
concluding  at  length  to  make  this  the  more  extended  po- 
litico-economic work,  which,  soon  after  the  publication  of 
"Our  Land  and  Land  Policy''  in  1871,  he  realised  would 
be  necessary  if  he  were  to  present  his  views  properly. 
Those  views  had  cleared  and  strengthened  during  the 
years  of  debate  in  his  newspaper  work,  by  his  speeches, 
and  through  private  conversations  among  his  friends  and 
acquaintances;  while  much,  if  intermittent,  reading  had 
made  his  mind  a  very  arsenal  of  information ;  so  that  with 
quickened  and  sharpened  powers  of  perception,  statement 
and  argument,  and  a  new  driving  force  in  the  widespread 
turmoil  and  distress,  the  elements  were  set  in  action  to 
produce  from  the  acorn  of  "Our  Land  and  Land  Policy" 
the  oak  of  "Progress  and  Poverty."  He  realised  that  this 
would  require  elaborate  and  dithcult  work;  that  from  his 
point  of  view  so  much  confusion  enshrouded  political  econ- 
omy that  he  would  have  to  clear  away  before  he  could 
build  up;  and  that  he  would  also  have  to  write  at  once 
for  those  who  had  made  no  previous  study  of  such  sub- 
jects and  for  those  who  were  familiar  with  economic  rea- 
sonings.^    In  accordance  with  this  decision  to  expand  the 

1  Preface  to  fourtli  edition  and  all  subsequent  editions 
of  "  Progress  and  Poverty." 


Age,  38-39]  FOURTH  CHILD  BORN  293 

writing,  we  find  in  the  diary  on  November  5  an  entry: 
"Started  on  'Rent.' " 

Meanwhile  had  come  an  important  interruption.  On 
October  2  the  fourth  child  had  been  born — a  girl.  The 
other  children — Harry,  Dick  and  Jennie — were  now  fif- 
teen, thirteen,  and  ten  years  old,  respectively.  The  baby 
was  named  Anna  Angela — Anna,  after  her  mother,  and 
Angela,  as  suggested  by  her  aunt  Sister  Theresa  Fox,  be- 
cause her  birth  came  on  the  Feast  of  the  Angels.  The 
husband  was  all  tenderness  during  this  time  of  trial  and 
he  went  to  market  daily  for  some  dainty  that  might  tempt 
his  sick  wife.  From  the  pleasure  he  showed  in  providing 
these  and  other  small  luxuries,  it  was  evident  that  his 
mind  kept  reverting  to  the  terrible  time  when  baby  Dick 
was  born  and  there  was  not  a  mouthful  of  food  in  the 
house  to  give  to  the  mother. 

Yet  even  now  Old  Adversity  once  in  a  while  made  his 
presence  known.  The  year  1877  closed  in  hard  times  for 
the  famity,  and  memoranda  among  his  papers  show  that 
Mr.  George  was  personally  $450  in  debt.  The  meter  in- 
spector's office  which  Avas  thought  to  be  so  lucrative  was 
at  the  time  yielding  next  to  nothing.  It  was  perhaps  the 
necessity  of  eking  out  his  livelihood  during  the  work  of 
writing  on  his  book  that  caused  him  to  turn  to  the  idea 
of  lecturing. 

This  idea  held  out  some  hope  for  him,  for  there  was 
now  an  organisation  composed  of  his  friends  and  based 
upon  his  principles  to  support  him.  In  the  latter  part 
of  1877  a  few  men,  among  them  William  M.  Hinton, 
James  G.  Maguire,  John  M.  Days,  John  Swett,  Joseph 
Leggett.  Patrick  J.  Murphy  and  A.  L.  Mann,  met  a  few 
times  with  Henry  George  and  his  brother,  John  V.  George, 
in  Maguire's  law  office  on  Clay  Street,  above  Montgomery, 
to  discuss  the  economic  parts  of  "Our  Land  and  Land 


294  LIFE   OP   HENRY   GEORGE  [1877-1878 

Policy."  These  discussions  resulted  one  Sunday  after- 
noon early  in  1878  in  a  meeting  in  the  City  Criminal 
Court  room,  in  which  on  other  days  of  the  week,  Eobert 
Ferral,  formerly  on  the  editorial  stafE  of  the  "Evening  Post," 
sat  as  judge.  At  this  meeting,  perhaps  thirty  persons  at- 
tending, "The  Land  Eeform  League  of  California"  was 
organised.  It  had  for  its  purpose  "the  abolition  of  land 
monopoly,"  and  it  was  the  first  organisation  of  any  kind 
in  the  world  to  propagate  Henry  George's  ideas.  Joseph 
Leggett,  a  lawyer,  who  was  born  in  the  county  of  Dublin, 
Ireland,  and  who  came  to  California  in  1868,  was  elected 
president;  and  Patrick  J.  Murphy,  a  newspaper  writer 
trained  on  the  "Evening  Post,"  became  secretary. 

About  the  first  thing  the  League  did  was  to  invite 
Henry  George  to  deliver  a  pay  lecture  under  its  auspices 
in  one  of  the  large  halls  of  the  city,  and  to  take  for  his 
text  the  prevailing  industrial  depression  and  labour  trou- 
bles. Accordingly  he  laid  aside  work  on  his  book  to  lec- 
ture at  Metropolitan  Temple,  on  March  26,  under  the  title 
of  "Why  Work  is  Scarce,  Wages  Low  and  Labour  Eest- 
less."  He  was  very  nervous  about  his  manner  and  voice, 
and  in  the  afternoon  went  to  the  hall  for  practice,  invit- 
ing his  wife  to  go  with  him.  He  went  upon  the  platform 
and  made  a  few  trials,  reading  from  the  manuscript  of  his 
intended  lecture.  Mrs.  George  sat  midway  in  the  audi- 
torium, and  their  old  friend,  George  Wilbur,  who  had  also 
come,  sat  up  in  the  gallery.  Eev.  Isaac  S.  Kalloch,  who 
delivered  Sunday  discourses  in  the  hall,  came  in  while 
Mr.  George  was  practising  and  said  that  if  those  were 
the  sentiments  he  intended  to  utter  that  night  he  would 
talk  over  the  heads  of  the  workingmen  whom  he  expected 
mainly  to  compose  his  audience,  since  their  selfish  instincts 
must  be  appealed  to.  Mr.  George  drew  himself  up  and 
replied :  "Working  men  are  men  and  are  susceptible  of  lofty 


Age,  38-39]  WHY  WORK  IS  SCARCE  295 

aspirations.  I  never  will  consent  to  appeal  to  them  on 
any  but  high  grounds." 

By  eight  o'clock  that  night  the  lecturer  was  seized  by 
"stage  fright" ;  though  for  that  matter  he  never  in  the  rest 
of  his  life,  even  after  his  long  election  campaigns  and 
lecturing  trips,  was  free  from  high  nervous  tension  before 
speaking.  There  was  reason  enough  that  night  for 
nervousness.  He  told  no  one,  yet  he  was  about  to  prove 
the  ends  for  which  he  had  desired  to  be  a  speaker.  As 
the  book  on  which  he  was  at  work  was  to  contain  his  writ- 
ten message  to  the  world,  so  now  he  intended  to  commence 
with  this  lecture  his  spoken  word — to  set  forth  his  per- 
ceptions, thoughts,  convictions,  philosophy;  to  proclaim 
the  equal  rights  of  all  men  to  the  land  as  one  potent 
means  of  ridding  civilisation  of  involuntary  poverty. 

His  expectations  of  a  big  audience  were  badly  disap- 
pointed. All  his  friends  had  been  interested  in  the  lec- 
ture, and  advertisements  and  notices  had  appeared  in  the 
daily  papers,  but  the  house,  the  largest  and  finest  of  the 
kind  in  the  city,  was  only  partly  filled.  Yet  though  his 
audience  was  small,  his  words  were  the  words  of  hope,  in 
this  way  closing  his  lecture: 

"Only  a  little  while  ago  nations  were  bought  and  sold, 
traded  off  by  treaty  and  bequeathed  by  will.  Where 
now  is  the  right  divine  of  kings?  Only  a  little  while 
ago,  and  human  flesh  and  blood  were  legal  property. 
Where  are  now  the  vested  rights  of  chattel  slavery  ? 

"And  shall  this  wrong  that  involves  monarchy  and 
involves  slavery — this  injustice  from  which  both  spring 
— long  continue?  Shall  the  ploughers  forever  plough 
the  backs  of  a  class  condemned  to  toil  ?  Shall  the  mill- 
stones of  greed  forever  grind  the  faces  of  the  poor? 

"Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  not  in  the  order  of  the 
universe !  As  one  who  for  years  has  watched  and 
waited,   I   tell  you  the  glow  of  dawn  is  in  the   sky. 


296  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1877-1878 

Whether  it  come  with  the  carol  of  larks  or  the  roll  of 
the  war-drums,  it  is  coming — it  will  come ! 

"The  standard  that  I  have  tried  to  raise  to-night  may 
be  torn  by  prejudice  and  blackened  by  calumny ;  it  may 
now  move  forward,  and  again  be  forced  back.  But  once 
loosed,  it  can  never  again  be  furled ! 

"To  beat  down  and  cover  up  the  truth  that  I  have 
tried  to-night  to  make  clear  to  you,  selfishness  will  call 
on  ignorance.  But  it  has  in  it  the  germinative  force 
of  truth,  and  the  times  are  ripe  for  it.  If  the  flint 
oppose  it,  the  flint  must  split  or  crumble ! 

"Paul  planteth,  and  Apollos  watereth,  but  God  giveth 
the  increase.  The  ground  is  ploughed;  the  seed  is  set; 
the  good  tree  will  grow. 

"So  little  now,  only  the  eye  of  faith  can  see  it.  So 
little  now;  so  tender  and  so  weak.  But  sometime,  the 
birds  of  heaven  shall  sing  in  its  branches;  sometime, 
the  weary  shall  find  rest  beneath  its  shade !" 

A  gleam  was  in  the  speaker's  eye,  hope  shone  in  his 
face;  his  shoulders  were  squared,  his  head  was  up.  In- 
tense earnestness  and  intense  conviction  Avere  in  his  man- 
ner. It  was  as  if  he  spoke  with  his  soul.  Yet  when  his 
voice  sank  to  the  deep  tones  and  he  uttered  the  words, 
"So  little  now,  only  the  eye  of  faith  can  see  it,"  it  seemed 
as  though  he  spoke  in  an  empty  hall.  He  had  started 
out  to  preach  his  word  to  the  world.  His  voice  was  like 
a  "cry  in  the  wilderness." 

Mr.  George  drew  little  money  from  this  lecture,  as  the 
expense  very  nearly  equalled  the  receipts.  Moreover,  the 
city  newspapers  dismissed  it  with  few  words.  But  as  some 
of  the  State  papers  noticed  it  favourably,  he  delivered  it 
in  Sacramento  and  several  of  the  other  cities,  under  the 
short  title  of  "The  Coming  Struggle."  But  he  nowhere 
attracted  large  or  even  moderate  sized  audiences. 

Measured  in  material  results,  the  return  from  this  lec- 
turing effort  was  meagre,  but  he  had  made  a  start  to 


Age,  38-39]  LECTURE  ON  MOSES  297 

preach  that  faith  which  came  from  his  heart's  core;  and 
that  counted  for  more  than  all  else  to  him. 

Nor  did  he  let  this  effort  stand  alone.  He  delivered 
another  lecture  a  few  months  later,  in  June;  one  that 
must  be  considered  to  be  in  many  respects  the  most  fin- 
ished address  he  ever  gave.  The  Young  Men's  Hebrew 
Association  of  San  Francisco,  had  just  then  been  organ- 
ised. It  was  composed  of  a  number  of  bright,  intelligent 
3foung  men.  They  invited  Mr.  George  to  deliver  their 
opening  address.  He  accepted,  but  surprise  and  some- 
thing like  embarrassment  seized  the  progressive  members 
when  he  announced  "Moses"  as  his  text,  as  they  had  looked 
for  some  live  topic  of  the  day.  Their  feelings  changed 
when  they  heard  the  discourse.  The  leader  of  the  Exodus 
was  held  up  as  the  colossal  ancient  figure  of  the  Hebrew 
nation.  More  than  that,  he  was  hailed  as  "one  of  those 
star  souls  that  dwindle  not  with  distance,  but,  glowing 
with  the  radiance  of  essential  truth,  hold  their  light  while 
institutions  and  languages  and  creeds  change  and  pass"; 
a  "lawgiver  and  benefactor  of  the  ages,"  who  pointed  the 
way  for  the  new  exodus — the  exodus  of  the  people  of 
this  modern  age  out  of  the  bondage  of  poverty,  and  laid 
down  a  code  for  the  observation  of  common  rights  in  the 
soil  and  the  establishment  of  a  commonwealth,  "whose 
ideal  was  that  every  man  should  sit  under  his  own  vine 
and  fig-tree,  with  none  to  vex  and  make  him  afraid." 
The  discourse  abounded  in  vivid  passages  and  exquisite 
imagery,  so  that  at  its  close  Dr.  Elkan  Cohen,  Eabbi  of 
the  Temple  Emanuel,  turned  to  Max  Popper,  chairnmn 
of  the  lecture  committee,  and  said  with  deep  feeling, 
"Where  did  you  find  that  man?" 

Nevertheless  Dr.  Edward  Taylor,  who  also  had  heard 
the  address,  observed  to  Mrs.  George  as  they  walked  to  a 
car  on  the  way  home:  "Considered  in  itself,  that  lecture 


298  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1877-1878 

was  a  fine  effort,  but  Mr.  George  is  writing  a  book  that  is 
so  much  superior  in  importance  that  to  stop  for  mat- 
ters like  this  is  like  wasting  time." 

But  if  just  now  he  gave  no  more  time  to  lectures,  he  did 
give  it  to  other  things.  Besides  contributing  an  article 
entitled  "Each  and  All"  to  a  volume  of  miscellaneous 
essays  published  for  the  benefit  of  the  Youth's  Directory, 
a  benevolent  institution  of  the  city,  he  gave  much  thought 
and  labour  to  the  organisation  and  establishment  of  the 
Free  Public  Library  of  San  Francisco.  As  early  as  1872 
he  had  talked  with  State  Senator  Donovan  in  advocacy 
of  tliis  means  of  popular  amusement  and  education,  and 
in  1878  with  other  public-spirited  citizens  worked  for  the 
passage  of  a  State  law  providing  for  the  establishment 
of  a  number  of  public  libraries  in  California.  He  became 
a  member  and  the  first  secretary  of  the  original  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  San  Francisco  library,  the  records  show- 
ing the  minutes  in  his  handwriting  and  the  same  blue  ink 
which  he  was  using  at  the  time  in  writing  "Progress  and 
Poverty."^ 

But  the  chief  interruption  to  the  work  on  the  book  grew 
out  of  politics.  In  obedience  to  a  popular  demand,  the 
legislature  had  passed  an  act  providing  for  the  holding  of 
a  convention  for  the  general  amendment  of  the  State  con- 
stitution, delegates  to  which  were  to  be  elected  in  June. 
Seeing  in  this  convention  a  possible  opportunity  to  graft 
into  the  organic  law  of  California  his  principles  touching 
the  taxation  of  land  values,  Mr.  George  issued  early  in  May 
an  address  to  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  announcing 
himself  as  a  candidate  "for  the  support  of  such  voters,  or 
bodies  of  voters,"  as  might  deem  that  as  a  delegate  he 
would  fitly  represent  them.     After  declaring  his  general 

1  This  library,  with  its  several  city  branches,  is  the 
most  complete  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


Age,  37-38]  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  299 

principles,  he  told  in  what  particulars  he  would  endeavour, 
so  far  as  he  had  power,  to  amend  the  constitution,  giving 
chief  place  to  this : 

"That  the  weight  of  taxation  may  be  shifted  from 
those  who  have  little  to  those  who  have  much,  from 
those  who  produce  wealth  to  those  who  merety  appro- 
priate it,  so  that  the  monopoly  of  land  and  water  may 
be  destroyed,  that  wealth  may  be  diffused  among  the 
many,  instead  of  stagnating  in  the  hands  of  a  few;  and 
an  end  put  to  the  shameful  state  of  things  which  com- 
pels men  to  beg  who  are  willing  to  work." 

The  Land  Eeform  League,  of  course,  became  active  in 
support  of  George  and  of  his  principles,  and  it  moreover 
issued  a  list  of  questions  to  be  put  to  all  candidates  for 
the  convention.  Mr.  George  was  nominated  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  and  afterwards  by  the  new  Working  men's 
party,  which,  rising  from  the  discontent  with  social  and 
political  conditions,  and  drawing  from  both  of  the  two 
old  parties,  had  a  strength  that  no  one  pretended  to 
ignore. 

With  the  double  nomination,  Mr.  George  seemed  sure 
of  election.  All  that  remained  was  for  him  to  go  before 
the  Working  men's  ratification  meeting,  and  acknowledg- 
ing the  leadership  of  Kearney,  subscribe  to  their  party 
platform.  But  there  the  difficulty  lay.  He  went  before 
the  meeting  where  others  had  gone  before  him,  and  was 
asked  the  questions  in  which  others  had  smootlily  and 
quietly  acquiesced.  His  reply  was  almost  a  shout,  "ISTo !" 
He  said  he  would  acknowledge  no  man  leader  to  do  his 
thinking  for  him;  that  moreover  there  were  some  planks 
in  their  platform  that  he  did  not  believe  in  and  must 
oppose.  He  would  receive  their  nomination  as  a  free  man 
or  not  at  all.  Hisses  greeted  his  speech  and  the  nomina- 
tion was  revoked. 


300  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1877-1878 

This  left  him  with  the  single  nomination  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  and  with  small  prospects  of  election,  for  that 
party  was  known  to  be  greatly  weakened  by  the  political 
upheaval.  The  whole  Democratic  ticket  was  beaten  at 
the  polls,  but  George  received  more  votes  than  any  other 
Democrat.  His  friend.  Assemblyman  Coffey,  who  had  run 
on  the  same  ticket,  on  the  following  morning  called  at 
the  meter  inspector's  office.  Not  finding  him  in,  he 
pinned  a  card  on  the  door  bearing  the  message:  "Accept 
congratulations  on  leading  the  Democratic  party  to  the 
devil !" 

Thus,  for  the  second  time  standing  for  the  suffrages 
of  the  people,  Mr.  George  had  been  beaten;  but  he  had 
the  consolation  now,  as  in  1871  when  he  ran  for  the 
Assembly,  of  knowing  that  he  had  kept  faith  with  himself. 

He  turned  once  more  to  work  on  his  book  and  did  not 
again  suffer  any  important  interruption. 


CHAPTER  X 
"PROGRESS   AND   POVERTY"   FINISHED. 

1878-1879.  Age,  39-40. 

ENTERING  his  library,  one  might  witness  the  author, 
slightly  inclined  over  an  ample  table  in  the  centre  of 
the  room,  writing  on  his  book.  Perhaps  wearing  a  little 
house  jacket,  he  sat,  one  hand  holding  the  paper,  the  other 
moving  a  soft  gold  pen  over  it.  And  as  he  roused  at  sound 
of  your  entrance  and  turned  and  sank  back,  with  one  arm 
still  on  the  table,  the  other  thrown  over  the  back  of  his 
chair,  he  raised  a  countenance  not  to  be  forgotten — a  slight 
smile  on  the  lips,  a  glow  in  the  cheeks,  tense  thought  in 
the  brow  and  a  gleam  in  the  deep-blue  eyes  that  looked 
straight  through  and  beyond  you,  as  if  to  rest  on  the 
world  of  visions  of  the  pure  in  heart. 

It  was  in  a  house  on  First  Street,^  near  Harrison,  to 
which  the  restless  famil}''  now  moved,  that  the  main  work 
on  "Progress  and  Poverty"  took  place  and  the  book  was 
finished.  For  a  while  there  was  no  parlour  carpet,  because 
the  family  could  not  afford  to  buy  one,  but  the  library, 
which  was  the  workroom,  was  sufficiently  furnished  and 
was  large  and  light  and  comfortable,  and  had  three  win- 
dows looking  out  on  the  bay. 

Mr.   George  by  gradual  aecunmlation   had   acquired   a 

iNo.  417  First  Street. 
301 


302  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1878-1879 

library  of  nearly  eight  hundred  volumes.  They  were  his 
chief  possessions  in  the  world.  They  related  to  political 
economy,  history  and  biography,  poetry,  philosophy,  the 
sciences  in  popular  form,  and  travels  and  discovery,  with 
but  few  works  of  fiction.  But  these  were  only  a  few  of 
the  books  he  used,  for  he  drew  from  the  four  public 
libraries  of  the  city — the  Odd  Fellows,  Mercantile,  Me- 
chanics and  Free— and  from  the  State  Library  at  Sacra- 
mento ;  while  he  also  had  access  to  the  books  of  his  friends 
and  acquaintances.  Dating  from  the  time  of  his  leaving 
the  "Evening  Post,"  he  had  applied  himself  assiduously 
to  reading,  adding  to  a  natural  taste  the  sense  of  duty 
of  storing  his  mind.  His  method  or  order  of  reading 
suited  the  needs  of  his  work  or  the  bent  of  his  fancy, 
though  he  most  frequently  read  poetry  in  the  mornings 
before  beginning  labour,  and  after  the  midday  and  even- 
ing meals.  He  had  not  what  would  be  called  a  musical 
taste  or  "ear,"  yet  he  said  that  all  poetry  that  appealed 
to  him — and  it  took  a  wide  range — set  itself  to  music  in 
his  mind. 

He  read  mostly  reclining,  a  pile  of  books  drawn  up 
beside  him.  He  devoted  himself  with  care  to  the  reading 
of  the  standard  works  of  political  economy,  yet  freely  con- 
fessed that  of  all  books,  these  gave  him  the  greatest  labour. 
At  night,  if  wakeful,  he  would  ask  his  wife  to,  or  would 
himself,  take  up  some  solid  work,  preferably  some  law 
treatise,  which  would  invariably  send  him  to  sleep.  He 
would  frequently  mark  passages,  and  at  times  make  notes; 
but  he  could  generally  with  little  difficulty  turn  to  what- 
ever in  his  past  reading  would  serve  an  argument,  fit  as  an 
illustration  or  adorn  his  diction.  To  most  of  his  friends 
he  seemed  a  browser  rather  than  a  deep  reader,  because 
he  spent  so  little  time  on  a  book :  and  in  truth,  to  use  his 
own  expression,  he  read  "at"   most  books,   not  through 


From  ijhotograpli  taken  in  8au  Francisco  shortly  after  writing 
"  l^rogress  and  Poverty." 


Age,  39^0]  PERSONAL  HABITS  303 

them.  Yet  in  this  dipping  he  had  the  art  of  culling  the 
particular  parts  that  were  useful  to  the  purposes  of  his 
mind. 

He  needed  eight  hours  sleep  nightly,  and  what  he  lost 
at  one  time  he  would  make  up  at  another.  He  arose  about 
seven,  took  a  cold  bath  and  dressed,  careless  about  his 
outer  clothes  but  invariably  donning  fresh  linen.  After 
breakfast  he  smoked  a  cigar  and  looked  over  the  news- 
paper, then  he  stretched  out  on  his  lounge  and  read  poetry 
for  perhaps  half  an  hour.  And  lying  on  his  back  he  would 
do  most  of  his  thinking;  but  he  also  thought  as  he  walked 
and  smoked.     He  seldom  sat  in  his  chair  except  to  write. 

As  he  wrote  much  by  inspiration,  especially  on  the  more 
elevated  parts  of  his  book,  he  could  not  always  work  at  a 
set  time  or  continuously.  When  his  mind  would  not  act 
to  his  suiting  he  would  lie  down  and  read,  or  go  sailing 
or  visit  friends.  To  the  casual  observer  his  brain  must 
have  seemed  intermittent  in  its  operation;  whereas,  there 
really  was  an  unconscious,  or  half  conscious,  cerebration 
when  all  the  faculties  seemed  wholly  occupied  with  out- 
ward trifles,  for  after  such  diversion  he  could  write  freely 
on  the  point  that  before  was  confused. 

His  writing,  therefore,  he  did  at  any  hour — early  or 
late — suiting  the  state  of  his  mind.  Sometimes  it  fell 
in  the  middle  of  the  night,  when  sleep  was  coy  and  thought 
surged.  Brilliant  passages  of  his  book  came  in  these 
hours,  as  by  voluntary  gift,  and  his  pen  ran  rapidly  over 
the  paper.  The  analytical  sections  he  wrote  slowly  and 
with  labour,  since  this  could  not  be  dashed  off,  but  required 
thought  in  conception,  thought  in  construction,  thought 
in  the  use  of  every  word.  Throughout  the  work  he  ap- 
plied himself  without  saving,  and  if  genius  is  the  art  of 
taking  pains,  his  application  bespoke  consummate  genius. 

First  came  the  rough  drafting,  in  which  he  used  a  sys- 


304  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1878-1879 

tern  of  simple  marks  to  represent  the  smaller  common 
words.  Numerous  revisions  and  re-writings  followed  for 
sense,  arrangement  and  diction,  the  requirements  of  the 
latter  being  clearness  and  simplicity,  with  a  preference 
for  short,  Saxon  words.  Over  and  over  again  he  wrote, 
arranged,  expanded,  contracted,  smoothed  and  polished, 
for  his  motto  was,  "What  makes  easy  reading  is  hard 
writing."  When  finished,  the  matter  was  submitted  to 
the  criticism  of  his  friends,  and  strengthened  wherever,  to 
his  view,  they  could  find  weak  spots,  so  that  eventually — 
in  the  preface  to  the  fourth  edition  of  the  book — he  was 
enabled  to  say  that  he  "had  yet  to  see  an  objection  not 
answered  in  advance  in  the  book  itself."  Indeed,  so  un- 
remitting was  his  toil  that  it  might  almost  be  said  that  the 
labour  of  writing  was  with  him  finished  only  when  the  book 
was  printed  and  beyond  further  work. 

Careless  about  his  personal  appearance,  the  greatest 
neatness  distinguished  his  manuscript.  He  wrote  on  ser- 
mon paper,  for  the  most  part  in  dark  blue  ink,  with  a 
straight  margin  on  the  left-hand  side.  The  words,  in 
large,  clear  letters,  were  separated  by  wide,  even  spaces. 
The  manuscript  when  finished  was  inviting  and  easy  to 
read.  The  influence  of  his  father's  plain,  clear,  direct 
manner  of  thinking  and  speaking  and  of  his  mother's  fine 
nature  and  lofty  language  showed  in  his  style  so  early  that 
he  may  be  said  to  have  been  a  born  writer.  And  when 
he  sat  down  to  write  his  book,  common  sense  and  melody 
mingled  harmoniously  as  the  events  of  his  restless  life 
rolled  before  him  like  a  varied  panorama — a  panorama  to 
which  books  brought  the  parallels  and  contrasts  of  shade 
and  colour.  As  without  knowledge  of  the  schools,  he 
had  read  the  suggestions  of  scenes  about  him,  drawn  his 
own  deductions  and  constructed  his  own  philosophy;  so 
without  training  in  the  rules  of  style,  he  followed  the 


Age,  39-40] 


METHOD  OF  WORK  305 


quick,  nervous  action,  and  force  and  cadence  of  his  own 
mind.  And  type  and  illustration  came  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence from  life  around — no  man  too  common,  no  inci- 
dent too  trivial,  to  make  a  picture  or  grace  an  argument. 

Points  to  treat  and  forms  of  speech  to  use  were  fre- 
quently set  down,  mostly  on  loose  sheets,  though  two  small 
blank  books  exist  containing  such  notes,  among  them  being 
two  early  ideas  for  a  title — one  of  them,  "Must  Progress 
Bring  Poverty?"  another  "Wealth  and  Want." 

The  eldest  son  had  reached  the  top  grade  in  the  gram- 
mar school,  which  was  thought  to  be  enough  schooling,  so 
that  he  was  taken  away  and  became  amanuensis  to  his 
father,  at  the  same  time  studying  shorthand  with  the  view 
of  taking  dictations  and  in  other  ways  becoming  more 
helpful.  Mrs.  George  gave  every  encouragement  in  her 
power  and  verified  fair  with  marked  copies  of  the  manu- 
script. It  was  perhaps  with  this  period  taking  cliief 
place  in  his  memory  that  Dr.  Taylor,  after  his  friend's 
death,  said: 

"Surely,  never  were  man  and  woman  closer  to  each 
other  in  affection  and  sympathy  than  were  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  George — companions  ever  till  death  stepped  be- 
tween them;  companions,  too,  of  the  noble  sort  that 
breasted  together  not  only  their  own  sufferings,  but  the 
sufferings  of  the  world  around  them." 

And  so,  too,  the  relations  between  Henry  George  and  his 
friends  were  extremely  warm;  perhaps  singular.  As  if 
in  pursuance  of  his  father's  early  injunction,  to  "make 
friends  and  use  them,"  few  men  with  close  friends  ever 
drew  more  from  them.  No  matter  how  they  differed 
among  themselves,  to  him  each  offered  earnest  devotion. 
None  of  them  was  what  could  be  called  a  political 
economist;  yet  for  that  matter  George  held  that  political 


306  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1878-1879 

economy  is  the  one  science  that  cannot  be  safely  left  to 
specialists,  the  one  science  which  the  ordinary  man,  with- 
out tools,  apparatus  or  special  learning,  may  most  easily 
study.  ^  At  the  beginning,  at  least,  it  was  not  so  much 
the  principles  he  proclaimed  as  it  was  two  personal  quali- 
ties he  possessed  that  drew  his  chosen  friends  closely  about 
him  and  commanded  their  strong  support.  One  of  these 
qualities  was  courage — described  as  "his  sublime  courage 
in  attacking  the  most  gigantic  vested  right  in  the  world." 
The  other  quality  was  sympathy. 

This  quality  of  sympathy  was,  perhaps,  Henry  George's 
predominant  trait  of  character.  It  had  made  him  heart- 
sick at  sight  of  the  want  and  suffering  in  the  great  city ;  it 
had  impelled  him  to  search  for  the  cause  and  the  cure.  In 
the  bonds  of  friendship  it  carried  him  into  the  other's 
thoughts  and  feelings.  Intuitively  he  put  himself  into  the 
other  man's  place  and  looked  at  the  world  through  those 
other  eyes.  Earely  demonstrative  in  such  circumstances,  he 
did  not  speak  of  his  sympathy,  but  it  was  as  plain  as  if  the 
word  was  written  on  his  face.  He  had  not  studied  man 
from  the  closet.  He  had  all  his  rugged  life  been  at  school 
with  humanity,  and  to  him  the  type  of  humanity  was  the 
common  man.  Civilisation  built  up  from  the  common 
man,  flourished  as  the  common  man  flourished,  decayed 
and  fell  with  the  common  man's  loss  of  independence. 
He  himself  had  climbed  out  on  swaying  yards  like  the 
commonest  man,  carried  his  blankets  as  a  prospector  and 
common  miner,  felt  something  of  the  hardships  of  farm- 
ing, tramped  dusty  roads  as  a  pedlar,  had  every  experi- 
ence as  a  printer,  and  suffered  the  physical  and  mental 
tortures  of  hunger.     Learning  and  pride  and  power  and 

1  This  idea  is  expressed  in  all  of  his  books,  but  most  explicitly  and  fully 
in  "  The  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  General  Introduction,  p.  xxxv. 


Age,  39-40]  COURAGE  AND  SYMPATHY  307 

tradition  and  precedent  went  for  little  with  him;  the 
human  heart,  the  moral  purpose,  became  the  core  thing. 
Towards  him,  from  this  very  quality  of  sympathy, 
each  friend — blacksmith  or  lawyer,  man  of  little  reading 
or  lover  of  helles-lettres — had  a  singular  consciousness  of 
nearness — a  feeling  that  this  man  could  see  what  he  him- 
self saw  and  as  he  saw — could  understand  Ms  labours,  his 
sufferings,  his  aspirations.  Nor  was  this  condition  pe- 
culiar to  the  "Progress  and  Poverty"  period.  It  developed 
at  that  time  and  continued  to  Henry  George's  death.  On 
the  part  of  most  of  the  men  with  whom  he  came  in  close 
contact,  in  California  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  there 
were  feelings  of  attachment  which  if  unspoken,  were  deep, 
solemn  and  lasting. 

Among  the  friends  closest  to  him  during  the  writing 
of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  and  whose  criticism  or  counsel 
he  asked  in  one  particular  or  another  were  Assemblyman 
James  V.  Coffey,  Ex-Assemblyman  James  G.  Maguire, 
William  Hinton  and  his  oldest  son,  Charles ;  State  Senator 
P.  J.  Donovan  and  Ex-State  Senator  John  M.  Days,  John 
Swett,  Principal  of  the  Girl's  High  School;  A.  S.  Halli- 
die,  Eegent  of  the  University  of  California  and  Trustee 
of  the  Free  Public  Library;  James  McClatchy  of  the 
"Sacramento  Bee";  H.  H.  Moore,  the  bookseller;  and  Dr. 
Edward  R.  Taylor.  Two  of  them  were  Englishmen  born, 
the  others  came  from  various  parts  of  the  United  States. 
Not  one  of  them  had  received  a  finished  education  in  the 
European  sense.  All  were  positive,  aggressive,  indepen- 
dent men,  representing  distinct  opinions,  tastes  and  habits 
of  life.  Each  had  made  his  way  in  the  community  chiefly 
by  the  force  of  his  own  nature.  George  made  requisition 
upon  these  different  men  for  different  purposes.  But  Tay- 
lor was  the  mainstay — the  only  man  who  read  all  of  the 
manuscript  and  subsequently  all  of  the  proofs. 


308  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1878-1879 

Edward  E.  Taylor  had  worked  as  purser  on  a  Sacra- 
mento steamboat,  set  type  and  written  for  a  newspaper, 
studied  and  practised  medicine,  served  as  private  secre- 
tary to  Governor  Haight,  and  afterwards  studied  law  and 
entered  on  a  profitable  practice  in  partnership  with  him. 
With  it  all  he  had  found  tipae  to  attain  many  of  the  re- 
finements of  life,  had  read  carefully  and  widely,  made 
himself  master  of  polished  verse  and  a  competent  judge 
of  the  fine  arts.  To  him  George  made  constant  reference, 
and  he  responded  with  tireless  zeal.  After  his  friend's 
death,  Taylor  said:^ 

"When  'Progress  and  Poverty'  was  in  process,  as  on 
its  completion,  it  occurred  to  me  that  here  was  one  of 
those  books  that  every  now  and  again  spring  forth  to 
show  men  what  man  can  do  when  his  noblest  emotions 
combine  with  his  highest  mentality  to  produce  something 
for  the  permanent  betterment  of  our  common  humanity ; 
that  here  was  a  burning  message  that  would  call  the 
attention  of  men  to  the  land  question  as  it  had  never 
been  called  before;  and  that  whether  the  message  was 

1  The  following  lines  were  written  by  Mr.  George  in  a  copj'  of  the 
original  edition  of  "  Progress  and  Poverty"  that  he  gave  to  Dr.  Taylor  : 

TO 

E.  R.  Taylor 

this  copy  of  a  book  which  he  knows  from  the  first 

and  in  the  production  of  which 

he  has  aided  not  only  as  compositor,  proof-reader,  critic  and  poet, 

but  still  more 

by  the  clearness  of  his  judgment,  the  warmth  of  his  sympathy,  the 

support  of  his  friendship  and  the  stimulation  of  his  faith 

is 

on  the  day  when  the  long,  hard  struggle  breaks  into  the  first  success, 

presented  by  Henry  George 

in  token  of  feelings  which  it  could  but  poorly 

symbolise  were  it  covered  with  gold  and  crusted  with 

diamonds. 

San  Francisco,  Oct.  20,  1879. 


Age,  39^0]  PREOCCUPATION  309 

embodied  in  an  argument  of  absolute  irrefragability 
or  not,  it  was  yet  one  that  would  stir  the  hearts  of 
millions. 

"And  similarly,  the  author  of  the  book  never  for  a 
moment  doubted  that  his  travail  had  resulted  in  a  great 
deliverance;  and  he  firmly  believed  (this  faith  never 
once  faltering  up  to  the  moment  of  his  death)  that  he 
had  pointed  out  the  one  true  road  for  burdened  human- 
ity to  follow." 


During  the  work  on  "Progress  and  Poverty"  the  author 
gave  many  proofs  of  his  preoccupation.  This  appeared 
inostly  at  table.  He  was  impatient  of  service  and  was 
willing  to  commence  and  finish  with  anything,  so  long  as 
he  did  not  have  to  wait.  One  day  at  lunch  he  sat  down  in 
a  dreamy  way,  drew  a  dish  of  cold  stewed  tomatoes  towards 
him  and  helped  himself  bountifully,  for  he  was  very  fond 
of  them.  By  the  time  he  had  eaten  them  the  other  edibles 
were  served.  Presently  his  eyes  fell  upon  the  tomatoes 
at  the  farther  end  of  the  table.  "Well,"  he  said  with 
some  asperity,  "am  I  not  to  have  any  tomatoes?  Don't 
you  know  I  like  them  ?"  At  another  time  one  of  the  boys 
on  a  Sunday  evening  went  to  the  cupboard  and  took  out  a 
cake  with  the  intention  of  eating  some,  for  the  family  was 
accustomed  on  that  day  to  take  an  early  dinner.  He  had 
the  knife  in  hand  and  was  about  to  cut  a  slice,  when  he 
was  caught  in  the  act,  so  to  speak,  by  his  father's  entrance. 
Instead  of  reproving  him,  as  the  boy  half  expected,  the 
father  took  the  knife,  cut  himself  a  slice  and  sat  down 
to  eat  it,  all  the  time  in  a  reverie,  holding  the  knife  and 
forgetful  of  the  boy.  When  that  was  eaten,  he  cut  him- 
self another  and  afterwards  a  third  slice,  still  holding  the 
knife.  It  was  only  then  that  he  noticed  that  his  son  was 
not  eating.     "Here,  have  a  piece,"  he  said.     "It  is  good." 

As  he  was  in  these  respects,  so  was  he  in  others.    While 


310  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1878-1879 

contending  with  the  loftiest  problems  possible  for  the  hu- 
man mind  and  writing  a  book  that  should  verily  stir  the 
hearts  of  millions,  there  was  no  more  personal  show  or 
pretence  in  or  out  of  his  workroom  than  if  he  were  engaged 
daily  in  tilling  out  government  weather  reports.  Thought- 
less of  dress,  and  often  abstracted,  he  was  unconventional 
in  speech,  at  times  even  to  lapses  in  syntax.  There  was 
an  utter  absence  of  anything  that  was  stiff  or  pompous. 
He  could  work  with  his  boys  over  a  toy  boat  in  the  yard 
and  then  go  and  help  sail  it;  unbend  to  his  older  girl 
and  talk  doll  and  party  until  her  eyes  shone;  sing  and 
coo  to  the  new  baby  and  call  her  "sunshine" ;  discuss  lighter 
literature  with  his  wife  as  if  it  shaped  his  daily  course; 
defer  to  a  visitor  who  came  to  break  bread  as  with  an 
absorbed  purpose  to  learn;  lead  in  the  merriment  of  a 
mild  practical  joke  among  his  friends  and  laugh  with  the 
ring  and  cheer  of  boyhood  over  a  comical  story.  There 
were  times  in  the  family  when  the  strain  of  following 
the  long  examination  and  argument  and  of  watching  the 
multitude  of  details  told  on  the  strong,  quick,  high-strung 
nature  with  bursts  of  impatience ;  but  they  passed  as  April 
showers. 

Though  writing  a  book  that  was  quickly  to  become 
famous,  he  could  not  absolutely  foresee  this.  He  believed 
he  was  writing  the  truth  and  this  urged  him  on,  yet  con- 
stantly came  the  disheartening  thought,  how  hopeless  the 
effort,  how  futile  the  sacrifice ;  for  what  could  avail  against 
such  stupendous  odds?  And  while  waged  this  inner  con- 
flict, there  was  outward  stress  and  struggle,  debts  and 
difficulties.  At  one  time  just  for  a  little  ready  money  he 
pawned  his  watch.  But  despite  all,  he  pressed  on,  until 
by  the  middle  of  March,  1879,  almost  a  year  and  a  half 
after  he  first  sat  down  to  it,  the  task  was  done.  "On  the 
night  in  which  I  finished  the  final  chapter  of  Trogress 


Age,  39-40] 


THE  VOW  FULFILLED  311 


aud  Poverty/ "  he  subsequently  wrote/  "I  felt  that  the 
talent  intrusted  to  me  had  been  accounted  for — felt  more 
fully  satisfied,  more  deeply  grateful  than  if  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth  had  been  laid  at  my  feet." 

The  full  meaning  of  these  words,  and  what  reveals  the 
living  fire  that  burned  in  the  breast  of  him  who  uttered 
them  and  the  religious  zeal  that  possessed  and  drove  him 
on,  is  to  be  found  in  a  postscript  to  a  letter  he  wrote  four 
years  later  (February  1,  1883)  to  Eev.  Thomas  Dawson 
of  Glencree,  Ireland — a  letter  which  in  a  former  chapter 
we  have  quoted  in  part.^  Written  in  his  own  hand,  it  was 
attached  to  a  letter  he  had  dictated  to  his  eldest  son  and 
was  never  seen  by  any  eye  but  Father  Dawson's  until  after 
death  had  claimed  its  author. 

"There  is  something  else  I  wanted  to  say  to  you  that 
I  can  only  write  with  my  own  hand.  Don't  be  dis- 
turbed because  I  am  not  a  Catholic.  In  some  things 
your  Church  is  very  attractive  to  me;  in  others  it  is 
repellent.  But  I  care  nothing  for  creeds.  It  seems  to 
me  that  in  any  church  or  out  of  them  one  may  serve  the 
Master,  and  this  also  that  faith  that  is  the  soul  of  your 
Church  holds.  And  in  my  way,  in  the  line  that  duty 
has  seemed  to  call  me,  that  I  have  tried  to  do.  Because 
you  are  not  only  my  friend,  but  a  priest  and  a  religious, 
I  shall  say  something  that  I  don't  like  to  speak  of — 
that  I  never  before  have  told  to  any  one.  Once,  in 
daylight,  and  in  a  city  street,  there  came  to  me  a  thought, 
a  vision,  a  call — give  it  what  name  you  please.  But 
every  nerve  quivered.  And  there  and  then  I  made  a 
vow.  Through  evil  and  through  good,  whatever  I  have 
done  and  whatever  I  have  left  undone,  to  that  I  have 
been  true.  It  was  that  that  impelled  me  to  write 
'Progress  and  Poverty'  and  that  sustained  me  when  else 
I  should  have  failed.  And  when  I  had  finished  the 
last  page,  in  the  dead  of  night,  when  I  was  entirely 

1  Preface  to  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy."        2  p^g^  193, 


312  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1878-1879 

alone,  I  flung  myself  on  my  knees  and  wept  like  a  child. 
The  rest,  was  in  the  Master's  hands.  That  is  a  feeling 
that  has  never  left  me ;  that  is  constantly  with  me.  And 
it  has  led  me  up  and  up.  It  has  made  me  a  better  and 
a  purer  man.  It  has  been  to  me  a  religion,  strong  and 
deep,  though  vague — a  religion  of  which  I  never  like  to 
speak,  or  make  any  outward  manifestation,  but  yet  that 
I  try  to  follow.  Believe  this,  my  dear  father,  that  if 
it  be  God's  will  I  should  be  a  Catholic,  he  will  call  me 
to  it.  But  in  many  different  forms  and  in  many  differ- 
ent ways  men  may  serve  Him. 

"Please  consider  this  letter  to  yourself  alone.  I  have 
only  said  this  much  to  you  because  you  WTote  my  wife 
hoping  I  would  become  a  Catholic.  Do  not  disturb 
yourself  about  that.  I  do  not  wish  you  not  to  be  a 
Catholic.  Inside  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  out  of  it; 
inside  of  all  denominations  and  creeds  and  outside  of 
them  all  there  is  work  to  do.  Each  in  the  station  to 
which  he  has  been  called,  let  us  do  what  is  set  us,  and 
we  shall  not  clash.  From  various  instruments,  set  to 
different  keys,  comes  the  grand  harmony.  And  when 
you  remember  me  in  your  prayers,  which  I  trust  you 
sometimes  will,  do  not  ask  that  I  shall  be  this  or  that, 
but  only  for  grace,  and  guidance,  and  strength  to  the 
end." 


THIRD  PERIOD 
PROPAGATION  OF  THE  PHILOSOPHY 


What  I  tell  you  in  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  light :  and  what  ye 
hear  in  the  ear,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  housetops. 

And  fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul :  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in 
hell.  Matthew  x.  27,  28 


CHAPTER   I. 
"PROGRESS   AND    POVERTY"    PUBLISHED. 

1879-1880.  Age,  40-41. 

THE  diary  shows  that  on  March  22,  1879,  a  copy  of 
"Progress  and  Poverty"  in  manuscript  was  shipped 
to  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  Publishers,  New  York.  No  West 
Coast  house  was  judged  to  have  facilities  for  placing  a 
book  of  this  kind  on  the  market.  Moreover,  the  Apple- 
tons  were  the  American  publishers  of  the  works  of  Her- 
bert Spencer,  whose  "Social  Statics"  Mr.  George  regarded 
as  having  in  some  degree  ploughed  the  ground  for  his 
own  book.  They  also  published  "The  International  Sci- 
entific Series"  which  he  had  in  his  library  and  to  which 
he  thought  "Progress  and  Poverty"  might  perhaps  be 
added.  But  about  the  middle  of  April  he  received  word 
from  the  Appleton  Company : 

"We  have  read  your  MS.  on  political  economy.  It 
has  the  merit  of  being  written  with  great  clearness  and 
force,  but  is  very  aggressive.  There  is  very  little  to 
encourage  the  puljlication  of  any  such  work  at  this  time 
and  we  feel  we  must  decline  it." 

However,  the  author  had  meanwhile  asked  his  brother, 
Thomas  L.  George,  to  go  on  from  Philadelphia  and  confer 
on  publication  with  Professor  William   Swinton,   Henry 

315 


316  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1879-1880 

George's  old  California  friend,  now  living  in  New  York, 
and  with  A.  S.  Hallidie,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  San  Francisco  Free  Library,  who  had  gone 
East  to  buy  books.  The  three  gentlemen  called  on  Wil- 
liam H.  Appleton,  the  senior  member  of  the  firm,  and 
found  him  disposed  to  reconsider  the  matter,  though  his 
strong  feeling  was  that  the  publication  of  such  a  book 
would  not  pay.  And  there  he  halted,  so  that  the  manu- 
script was  submitted  to  other  houses.  Thomas  George 
wrote  to  his  brother  on  May  13 : 

"I  have  just  telegraphed  you  after  consultation  with 
Professor  Swinton,  and  by  his  advice,  that  it  'seems 
impossible  to  get  publisher  without  plates.'  Appleton 
rejected  the  MS.  and  Harper,  also,  the  latter  emphati- 
cally, considering  it  revolutionary  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing.  Swinton  and  I  called  at  Scribner's  this  morn- 
ing .  ,  .  and  were  much  pleased  with  our  inter- 
view. In  the  event  of  Scribner  refusing  we  shall  try 
Boston." 


Meanwhile,  and  before  Appleton  had  written  the  first 
letter  of  rejection,  Henry  George,  not  wishing  to  remain 
idle,  and  for  that  matter  urged  by  necessity  to  do  some- 
thing to  make  a  living  which  his  office  of  meter  inspector 
had  not  recently  afforded,  re-entered  public  affairs.  He 
started  a  four-paged  weekly  paper,  "The  State" — "A  jour- 
nal of  politics  and  opinion."  It  was  printed  by  William 
M.  Hinton,  who  had  opened  a  printing  office  on  Clay 
Street.  Mr.  George  did  most  of  the  writing,  but  Dr.  Tay- 
lor, James  V.  Coffey  and  other  friends  made  contribu- 
tions. The  paper  was  high  in  tone  and  temperate,  though 
strong  in  language.  It  forcibly  opposed  the  new  constitu- 
tion that  the  convention  had  drawn  up  and  which  was  to  be 
submitted  to  a  popular  vote  early  in  May.     Mr.  George 


Age,  40^1]  "THE  STATE"  317 

held  that  such  an  instrument  would  strengthen  the  land 
and  railroad  monopolies  and  that  it  had  man}^  other  seri- 
ous faults.  The  masses  of  the  people  thought  otherwise, 
however,  so  that  it  was  adopted  by  a  large  vote. 

"The  State"  afterwards  dealt  with  a  number  of  matters 
of  public  interest  in  California,  and  took  a  vigorous  ad- 
verse position  to  General  Grant,  who  purposed  completing 
a  circle  of  the  globe  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  to  the  end, 
as  many  like  George  believed,  of  becoming  candidate  for  a 
third  term  of  the  Presidency.  To  Henry  George,  Grant 
was  distinguished  as  the  President  who  had  had  the  worst 
of  all  political  rings  and  corrviptionists  about  him. 
George's  attack  was  so  sincere  and  so  strenuous  that  later, 
when  Grant  arrived,  and  John  Russell  Young,  who  was  of 
the  General's  party,  offered  to  arrange  for  a  private  in- 
terview, George  refused. 

"The  State"  had  a  short  life,  suspending  with  the 
eleventh  number.  Not  that  it  was  losing  money,  for  while 
it  did  not  have  much  of  a  circulation,  it  was  just  about 
paying  for  itself.  Mr.  George  stopped  it  because,  having 
undertaken  to  make  plates  of  his  book,  he  found  that  that 
far  more  important  matter  demanded  all  of  his  available 
time. 

It  is  an  old  story  how  the  copyright  of  Milton's  "Para- 
dise Lost"  was  originally  sold  for  five  pounds,  and  it  goes 
with  the  history  of  literature  how  many  famous  books  from 
"Robinson  Crusoe"  down  to  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  were 
at  start  thought  to  be  such  poor  business  ventures  as  to 
have  to  struggle  for  j^ublication.  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty" had  fallen  into  the  same  category.  The  ability  it 
showed  was  conceded,  but  aside  from  its  doctrines  to 
which  some  objected,  the  book  was  thought  unlikely  to  pay 
the  expense  of  handling.  In  truth,  no  works  of  political 
economy  up  to  that  time  had  paid.     There  was  nothing 


318  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-18S0 

for  the  author  to  do  but  himself  to  make  his  plates  and 
then  try  again  for  a  publisher. 

But  to  a  man  who  had  no  money — who  indeed,  was  in 
debt — the  expense  of  making  plates  was  a  serious  matter. 
The  way  cleared,  however.  "My  old  partner,  Mr.  Hin- 
ton,"  said  Mr.  George  later,^  "who  had  got  himself  a 
printing  office,  thereupon  said  that  he  had  faith  enough 
in  anything  I  should  do  to  make  the  plates;  and  I  put 
the  manuscript  in  his  hands."  The  diary  on  May  17  con- 
tains the  note:  "Commenced  to  set  type  on  book.  Set 
first  two  sticks  myself." 

But  with  characteristic  pains,  the  author  revised  his 
manuscript,  chapter  by  chapter,  before  the  printers  re- 
ceived it.  Not  a  page  or  a  paragraph  escaped  until  it  met 
whatever  new  questions  had  arisen  in  his  mind.  And  he 
made  many  changes,  but  not  one  affecting  principle.  Most 
of  them  related  to  terseness,  expression  and  arrangement.^ 

Those  competent  to  judge  will  perhaps  hold  with  the 
author  that  taken  altogether  the  changes  made  in  the 

1  Meeker  Notes,  October,  1897.  See  also  "The  Science  of  Political 
Economy,"  p.  203. 

2  A  comparison  of  title  pages  will  illustrate  this  : 

As  submitted  to  Appleton  :  As  revised  and  printed  : 

"  Progress  and  Poverty  "  Progress  and  Poverty 

"  An  inquiry  into  the  Cause  of  "An  inquiry  into  the  Cause  of 

Recurring  Paroxysms  of  Industri-         Industrial  Depressions  and  of  In- 

al  Depressions  and  of  Increasing         crease   of  Want   with    Increase  of 

Want  with  Increasing  Wealth.  Wealth. 

"A  Remedy  Proposed."  "The  Remedy." 

There  was  also  an  important  rearrangement  and  addition.  As  submitted 
to  Appleton,  the  work  consisted  of  eight  grand  divisions  or  books.  The 
revision  cast  it  into  ten.  The  original  Book  VI,  entitled,  "The  Remedy," 
and  consisting  of  ten  chapters,  he  divided  into  three  books,  as  follows  : 
Book  VI,  "The  Remedy,"  two  chapters  (one  of  them,  entitled,  "The  True 
Remedy,")  being  new;  BookVII,  "Justice  of  the  Remedy,  "jBve  chapters;  and 
Book  VIII,  "Application  of  the  Remedy,"  four  chapters.     The  numbering 


Age,  40-41]  THE  BOOK  REVISED  319 

manuscript  at  the  time  of  putting  the  work  into  type 
made  a  marked  improvement  in  "Progress  and  Poverty," 
as  still  further  clearing  and  smoothing  an  already  grace- 
ful, lucid  style;  but  it  is  to  the  termination  of  the  work 
that  chief  attention  will  turn.  The  manuscript  ended 
with  the  closing  words  of  Book  VIII,  or  what  by  subse- 
quent numbering  became  Book  X.  The  author  had  ended 
his  task,  he  had  answered  the  riddle  of  industrial  depres- 
sions, shown  the  cause  of  increase  of  want  with  increase 
of  wealth  and  pointed  to  the  remedy.  But  thought  still 
mounted,  his  heart  still  moved  him;  so  that  while  the 
printers  were  busy  setting  type  on  what  he  had  previously 
written,  he  now  wrote  a  chapter  entitled  "The  Problem  of 
Individual  Life"  to  form  the  conclusion.  This  was  not 
a  mere  rhetorical  flourish,  a  splendid  peroration  to  an 
elevated  argument.  His  soul's  message  was  going  out  to 
the  world.  He  had  made  the  long,  hard  struggle  to  find 
the  Truth  and  to  tell  it.  Would  the  Truth  prevail  ?  He 
understood  the  conditions  that  beset  it  and  he  answered: 
"Ultimately,  yes.  But  in  our  OAvn  times,  or  in  times  of 
which  any  memory  of  us  remains,  who  shall  say?"  He 
made  a  supreme  appeal  to  those  "who  in  their  heart  of 
hearts  have  taken  the  cross  of  a  new  crusade";  to  those 
who  seeing  the  Truth,  "will  toil  for  it;  suffer  for  it;  if 
need  be,  die  for  it."  It  was  a  trumpet  call  to  those  who 
would  fight  with  Ormuzd !  And  he  followed  this  up  later, 
at  the  first  formal  publication  of  the  work,^  with  a  dedi- 

of  former  Books  VII  and  VIII  was  changed  to  IX  and  X,  respectively. 
Besides  the  motto  to  precede  the  general  work,  one  was  now  set  at  the 
head  of  each  book,  that  heading  Book  VIII,  being  written  by  Dr.  Taylor. 
It  was  ascribed  to  "Old  Play,"  which,  however,  gave  place  to  Taylor's 
name  in  the  fourth  edition,  as  George  heard  it  highly  commended  and 
wished  its  author  to  have  full  credit. 
1  First  Appleton  edition. 


320  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

cation  of  it  "to  those  who,  seeing  the  vice  and  misery  that 
spring  from  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth  and  privi- 
lege, feel  the  possibility  of  a  higher  social  state  and  would 
strive  for  its  attainment." 

During  all  this  labour  of  making  plates,  Taylor  was  of 
inestimable  service  to  his  friend,  encouraging  and  sug- 
gesting, reading  proofs,  and  even,  like  George,  going  back 
to  the  printer's  case  to  set  a  few  sticks  of  type.  Nor  did 
George  forget  his  other  friends.  He  now  did  as  he  had 
done  during  the  previous  work  of  writing — called  for 
their  aid  whenever  they  could  give  it.  For  instance,  John 
Swett  has  said: 

"It  was  when  he  was  putting  'Progress  and  Poverty'  in 
type  that  Mr.  George  came,  saying  that  some  criticisms 
had  been  made  by  a  friend  respecting  syntax,  and  that 
as  he  [George]  depended  more  uj)on  his  ear  than  upon 
a  knowledge  of  rules,  he  may  have  fallen  into  some  gross 
errors.  He,  therefore,  wanted  me,  as  a  friend,  to  read 
a  set  of  proofs — the  same  set,  in  fact,  on  which  the 
grammatical  critic  had  made  marks.  I  found  that 
these  marks  related  almost  entirely  to  'so's'  and  'as's.' 
According  to  my  liberal  view,  Mr.  George's  use  of  these 
marked  words  was  in  almost  every  instance  correct.  In- 
deed, as  I  now  remember,  the  only  incorrect  use  of  them 
was  in  a  single  instance,  which  by  some  chance  the 
critic  had  overlooked. 

"Mr.  George  did  not  ask  me  to  pass  upon  the  subject 
matter  of  the  work.  Nor  would  I  have  felt  in  a  posi- 
tion to  do  so,  because  I  had  made  no  special  study  of 
such  matters.  He  asked  me  to  read  for  grammatical 
slips;  and  from  what  he  said,  I  expected  to  find  here 
and  there  a  break.  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  prac- 
tically nothing  to  criticise.  His  ear  was  as  good  as  the 
rules  of  syntax." 

One  of  his  friends  had  originally  suggested  that  the 
book  be  published  by  subscription,  and  the  author  con- 


Age,40-tl]  PROPHECY  AS  TO  BOOK  321 

eluded  to  follow  this  idea  to  the  extent  of  an  informal 
"Author's  Edition"  of  five  hundred  copies.  He  printed 
a  descriptive  circular  or  prospectus  of  the  vt'ork  announ- 
cing that  he  would  issue  in  August  a  small  "Author's  Proof 
Edition,"  under  the  title,  "Political  Economy  of  the  So- 
cial Problem."^  He  sent  this  circular  to  those  of  his 
friends  who  he  thought  would  take  an  interest  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  he  sold  enough  copies  at  three  dollars  apiece  to 
enable  him  to  pay  part  of  the  cost  of  printing  the  edition. 
One  of  the  first  copies  he  sent  to  his  father  in  Phila- 
delphia, who  had  reached  his  eighty-first  year.  With  the 
book  he  sent  this  letter  (September  15)  : 

"It  is  with  a  deep  feeling  of  gratitude  to  Our  Father 
in  Heaven  that  I  send  you  a  printed  copy  of  this  book. 
I  am  grateful  that  I  have  been  enabled  to  live  to  write 
it,  and  that  you  have  been  enabled  to  live  to  see  it. 
It  represents  a  great  deal  of  work  and  a  good  deal  of 
sacrifice,  but  now  it  is  done.  It  will  not  be  recognised 
at  first — maybe  not  for  some  time — but  it  will  ulti- 
mately be  considered  a  great  book,  will  be  published  in 
both  hemispheres,  and  be  translated  into  different  lan- 
guages. This  I  know,  though  neither  of  us  may  ever  see 
it  here.  But  the  belief  that  I  have  expressed  in  this 
book — the  belief  that  there  is  yet  another  life  for  us 
makes  that  of  little  moment." 


A  fortnight  after  writing  this  letter,  the  author  re- 
ceived from  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  of  New  York  a  proposal 
to  publish  the  book.     This  was  in  response  to  an  effort 

1  The  title,  "  Progress  and  Poverty,"  was  the  name  used  when  the  book 
was  first  submitted  to  Appleton  and  the  other  Eastern  publishers,  as  shown 
by  the  original  manuscript.  Why  Mr.  George  announced  a  totally  differ- 
ent one  in  this  circular  perhaps  came  from  a  desire  to  protect  the  former 
title  until  it  had  been  printed  with  the  book  and  copyrighted.  He 
showed  similar  care  with  his  later  books. 


322  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

he  had  again  made  to  find  a  publisher.  "I  sent,"  he  said, 
"copies  of  the  author's  edition  without  binding  to  pub- 
lishers both  in  America  and  England,  offering  to  put  the 
plates  at  their  disposal  for  printing.  I  received  but  one 
proposal,  that  of  Appleton  &  Co.  They  offered  to  take 
it  and  bring  it  out  at  once,  and  I  acceded  to  this."^  The 
publishers  proposed  to  issue  the  book  at  two  dollars  a 
copy  and  agreed  to  give  a  royalty  of  fifteen  per  cent. 

To  his  friend,  John  Swinton,  of  New  York,  brother  of 
Professor  William  Swinton,  Mr.  George  wrote  in  satis- 
faction : 

"So,  at  last,  I  feel  sure  of  getting  the  book  published ! 
This  is  a  very  great  relief  to  me.  I  was  from  the  first 
apprehensive  about  finding  a  publisher  and  Somers 
brought  to  me  a  message  from  you  as  to  the  difficul- 
ties that  was  anything  but  encouraging.  Turning 
aside  from  everything  else,  I  worked  hard  and  faith- 
fully to  get  the  book  through,  only  to  feel  when  the 
writing  had  been  finished  that  I  was  but  on  the  threshold 
of  the  real  difficulty.  When,  in  spite  of  your  brother's 
efforts,  I  could  get  no  one  to  publish  from  the  manu- 
script, I  had  to  work  on  an  uncertainty  and  make  the 
plates.  To  do  this  I  had  to  stop  the  little  paper  that 
I  had  started." 

Soon  following  this  letter  Mr.  George  wrote  another  to 
John  Swinton: 

"If  the  book  gets  well  started,  gets  before  the  public 
in  such  a  way  as  to  attract  attention,  I  have  no  fear 
for  it.  I  know  what  it  will  encounter ;  but,  for  all  that, 
it  has  in  it  the  power  of  truth.  When  you  read  it  in 
its  proper  order  and  carefully,  you  will  see,  I  think,  that 
it  is  the  most  important  contribution  to  the  science 
of   political   economy   yet   made;   that,    on   their   own 

1  Meeker  notes,  October,  1897. 


Age,  40-41]  THE  BOOK  GOES  FOETH  323 

ground,  and  with  their  own  weapons,  I  have  utterly 
broken  down  the  whole  structure  of  the  current  polit- 
ical economy,  which  you  so  truly  characterise.  The  pro- 
fessors will  first  ignore,  then  pooh-pooh,  and  then  try 
to  hold  the  shattered  fragments  of  their  theories  to- 
gether; but  this  book  opens  the  discussion  along  lines 
on  which  they  cannot  make  a  successful  defence." 

Mr.  George  also  received  some  cheer  through  compli- 
mentary copies  of  the  "Author's  Edition"  which  he  sent 
to  such  distinguished  persons  as  he  thought  would  be 
interested  in  it;  one  copy  going  to  Gladstone,  who  had 
just  made  a  speech  or  two  with  radical  tendencies  on  the 
land  question,  another  to  Sir  George  Grey,  the  master 
spirit  of  ISTew  Zealand ;  and  others  to  Herbert  Spencer  and 
the  Duke  of  Argyll,  both  of  whom,  the  one  as  author  of 
"Social  Statics"  and  the  other  of  "The  Eeign  of  Law," 
would,  the  author  presumed,  welcome  a  work  harmonising 
with  principles  they  had  enunciated.  Spencer  does  not 
appear  to  have  responded,  but  the  Duke  sent  a  courteous 
acknowledgment.  Gladstone  on  one  of  his  customary  pos- 
tal cards  said  (Hawarden,  November  11,  1879)  :  "Accept 
my  best  thanks  for  the  copy  of  your  interesting  work, 
which  reached  me  to-day,  and  which  I  have  begun  to 
examine.  There  is  no  question  which  requires  a  more 
careful  examination  than  the  land  question  in  this  and 
other  countries,  and  I  shall  set  great  store  on  whatever 
information  you  may  furnish  under  this  head."  Sir 
George  Grey  wrote  in  a  still  more  gratifying  way  (Auck- 
land, N.  Z.,  January  27,  1880).  "I  have  already  read  a 
large  part  of  the  book,"  he  said.  "I  regard  it  as  one  of 
the  ablest  works  on  the  great  questions  of  the  time,  which 
has  come  under  my  notice.  It  will  be  of  great  use  to  me. 
.  .  .  It  has  cheered  me  much  to  find  that  there  is  so 
able  a  man  working  in  California,  upon  subjects  on  which 


324  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

I  believe  the  whole  future  of  mankind  now  mainly 
hangs." 

Early  in  1880  John  Kussell  Young  went  to  London  and 
carried  a  number  of  copies  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  with 
him  which  he  presented  with  personal  letters  to  notable 
men  of  his  acquaintance,  among  them  being  W.  Fraser 
Eae,  L.  H.  Courtney,  M.  P.,  Dean  Stanley,  and  Henry 
Labouchere,  M.  P.,  Thomas  Hughes  and  Henry  Faw- 
cett,  M.  P.,  as  well  as  the  Irish .  Members  of  Parliament, 
A.  M.  Sullivan  and  J.  O'Connor  Power,  and  he  wrote  back 
to  Mr.  George  that  most  of  these  copies  of  the  book  were 
getting  read  and  that  some  would  probably  produce  results. 

But  if  such  messages  were  beginning  to  come  in  from 
the  outside  world,  recognition  at  home  was  slow.  Friendly 
newspapers  like  the  "San  Francisco  Examiner"  and  the 
"Sacramento  Bee"  said  complimentary  things,  without  at- 
tempting to  discuss  or  even  to  notice  extendedly.  Most 
of  the  papers,  if  they  did  not  treat  the  book  with  con- 
temptuous silence,  sneered  at  the  "hobby"  of  "little  Harry 
George,"  and  said  in  substance  with  the  "Alta  California" 
that  the  book  never  would  be  heard  of.  This  belief  found 
expression  beyond  the  newspapers,  as  indicated  by  an  inci- 
dent related  by  Mr.  George  in  his  "Science  of  Political 
Economy"  :^ 


"When  the  first  few  copies  of  my  '^Progress  and  Pov- 
erty' were  printed  in  an  author's  edition  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, a  large  land-owner  (the  late  General  Beale,  proprie- 
tor of  the  Tejon  Kanch,  and  afterwards  United  States 
Minister  to  Austria),  sought  me  to  express  the  pleasure 
with  which  he  had  read  it  as  an  intellectual  performance. 
This,  he  said,  he  had  felt  at  liberty  to  enjoy,  for,  to 
speak  with  the  freedom  of  philosophic  frankness,  he  was 

1  Pages  170,171. 


Age,  40-41]  PERSONAL  EXPLANATIONS  325 

certain  my  work  would  never  be  heard  of  by  those  whom 
I  wished  it  to  affect." 


The  Sacramento  "Eecord-Union,"  the  railroad  organ, 
was  really  the  first  representative  of  the  hostile  newspaper 
interests  to  honour  the  book  with  a  serious  and  extended 
criticism.  The  author  was  moved  to  reply.  He  filled  four 
and  a  half  columns,  incidentally  making  some  personal  ex- 
planations that  we  should  note. 

"If  [in  replying]  I  shall  seem  to  show  any  of  that 
absence  of  diffidence  which  you  deem  one  of  the  re- 
markable characteristics  of  my  book,  do  not  charge  it 
to  any  want  of  respect  or  lack  of  proper  modesty,  but 
to  the  fact  that  when  a  man  has  so  thought  out  and 
tested  his  opinions  that  they  have  in  his  mind  the  high- 
est certainty,  it  would  be  but  affectation  for  him  to 
assume  doubts  he  does  not  feel.     .     .     . 

"For  my  own  part  I  am  not  lacking  in  respect  for 
authority.  Like  everybody  else,  I  am  disposed  to  be- 
lieve whatever  I  am  told  by  those  reputed  wise  and 
learned,  and  if  I  have  been  enabled  to  emancipate  my- 
self from  ideas  which  have  fettered  far  abler  men,  it  is, 
doubtless,  due  to  the  fact  that  my  study  of  social  prob- 
lems was  in  a  country  like  this,  where  they  have  been 
presented  with  peculiar  directness,  and  perhaps  also  to 
the  fact  that  I  was  led  to  think  a  good  deal  before  I 
had  a  chance  to  do  much  reading." 

Mr.  George  was  depressed  by  hearing  from  the  Apple- 
tons  that  they  would  not  attempt  publication  until  after 
the  Christmas  holidays.  They  wrote,  moreover,  that  their 
London  agent  had  failed  to  induce  any  of  the  English 
houses  to  take  the  book,  one  publisher  saying  that  "if  the 
plates  were  sent  free  of  cost"  he  would  not  publish  it. 
The  Appleton  agent  had  concluded  that  English  publishers 
generally  would  not  look  with  much  favour  on  the  book 


326  LIFE   OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

because  it  antagonised  the  tenets  of  the  current  political 
economy.  Nor  did  the  Appletons  themselves  see  any  ad- 
vantage for  the  author  in  putting  in  the  American  edition 
of  the  book  the  words  "rights  of  translation  reserved," 
since  to  their  view  there  was  small  chance  of  anything  of 
importance  being  done  in  the  way  of  translation. 

This  dashed  the  hopes  that  had  begun  to  rise,  and  what 
increased  the  author's  depression  was  that  though  it  had 
brought  comparatively  little  return  to  him  during  the  last 
two  years,  he  was  about  to  yield  up  his  office  of  inspector 
of  gas  meters,  George  C.  Perkins,  a  Ecpublican,  having 
been  elected  to  succeed  Governor  William  S.  Irwin.  While 
friendly  with  him,  Mr.  George  would  not  ask,  nor  did  he 
expect,  anything  from  Mr.  Perkins,  and  a  few  days  after 
taking  his  chair  in  January,  1880,  the  new  Governor  ap- 
pointed a  Republican  to  the  office  of  gas  meter  inspector. 

Henry  George  had  written  a  book  which  he  was  confi- 
dent would  some  da)^  become  famous ;  but  in  writing  it,  he 
had  chosen  the  hard  road  of  the  social  pioneer,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1879,  when  his  friend  John  Eussell  Young  was 
in  San  Francisco  with  the  General  Grant  party,  he  was 
beginning  to  realise  with  secret  bitterness  the  difficult 
task  he  would  have  from  now  forward  in  making  a  living; 
for  the  world  regards  as  an  impractical  man  and  a 
dreamer  him  who  is  in  advance  of  his  time.  To  a  man 
with  such  a  mission  as  Mr.  George  had  set  before  him- 
self, the  making  of  a  living  would  have  been  a  difficult 
task  even  under  good  general  circumstances ;  but  Califor- 
nia now  was  industrially  under  a  cloud.  He  said  later: 
"I  could  hardly  walk  a  block  without  meeting  a  citizen 
begging  for  ten  cents."^  Eighteen  years  later  Mr.  Young 
said: 

1  "The  Land  Question,"  Chapter  XV. 


Age,  40-41]  LETTER  TO  NORDHOFF  327 

"I  saw  much  of  George  in  these  California  days.  He 
talked  of  his  career,  was  swimming  in  heavy  seas.  This 
could  only  be  divined  bit  by  bit,  for  the  proud,  self- 
respecting,  sensitive  gentleman  made  no  sign.  Then 
came  the  knowledge  of  the  book,  the  new  gospel.  I 
never  see  'Progress  and  Poverty'  without  recalling  the 
pathetic  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written  and 
honouring  the  courage  of  the  author.  The  clouds 
were  heavy  over  George.  Proud,  brave,  smiling,  hope- 
ful— San  Francisco  did  not  appreciate  him;  had  never 
given  him  recognition.  He  would  speak  of  it  as  cold 
and  barren,  rvded  by  strenuous  men  too  busy  with  mines 
and  wheat  and  empire  building  to  listen  to  prophecy."^ 

About  the  time  he  was  talking  to  Young,  George  ex- 
pressed kindred  sentiments  in  a  letter  to  Charles  JSTordhoff, 
one  of  the  chief  editorial  writers  for  the  "New  York  Her- 
ald," whom  he  had  met  early  in  the  seventies  in  San 
Francisco  and  whose  strong  belief  in  immortality  made  a 
deep  impression  on  his  mind.  The  letter  (December  21) 
ran: 

"Your  kind  letter  reached  me  last  Monday,  but  until 
now  I  have  not  had  time  to  acknowledge  it.  It  has 
given  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure — more  than  you 
can  think.  It  pleases  me  that  you  remember  me,  and  it 
pleases  me  that  you  like  my  book.  Your  friendship  and 
your  opinion  I  value  very  much.  You  know  how  ear- 
nest men  are  drawn  towards  those  for  whom  they  feel 
an  intellectual  sympathy,  and  I  have  derived  so  much 
from  you  that  it  pleases  me  very  much  that  my  book 
interests  and  pleases  you. 

"As  for  the  book  itself,  I  believe  it  sets  forth  some 
very  great  truths  that  have  been  hitlierto  ignored  and 
slurred  over,  and  I  think  they  will  grow  on  you  as  they 
have  grown  on  me.     To  write  the  book  was  not  an  easy 

1  Signed  article  by  John  Russell  Young  iu  "New  York 
Herald,"  October  30,  1897. 


328  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

task  for  me,  and  I  could  not  have  done  it  but  for  the 
animation  of  a  very  deep  and  very  strong  feeling,  and 
when  I  got  through  it  was  with  such  a  deep  thank- 
fulness that  I  cannot  express  it.  I  had  hard  work,  too, 
to  get  it  into  print  and  to  get  it  a  publisher,  and  it 
has  been  weary  waiting.  But  now  Appletous  write  me 
that  they  will  publish  it  in  January. 

"With  all  deference  to  your  judgment,  I  think  you 
are  wrong  in  your  opinion  that  I  should  have  briefly 
stated  the  economic  laws.  That  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient if  I  had  been  writing  for  men  like  you.  But  I 
have  aimed  to  reach  a  very  much  larger  audience.  I 
have  tried  to  make  a  book  which  would  be  intelligible 
to  those  who  have  never  read  and  never  thought  on 
such  subjects  before,  and  to  do  that  in  such  a  way  as  to 
get  the  primary  truths  firmly  established  in  their  minds. 
And  it  is  astonishing  and  appalling  how  few  there  are 
capable  of  logical  thought — or,  rather,  who  are  willing 
to  undertake  it. 

"In  the  latter  parts  the  book  is  too  much  condensed, 
I  know,  and  I  had  to  omit  a  good  deal  I  should  like  to 
have  said.  The  fact  is  it  covers  too  wide  a  scope  for 
one  volume.  The  chapters,  for  instance,  relating  to  the 
development  of  civilisation  are  but  a  bare  skeleton  of 
what  I  should  like  to  say,  and  do  not  begin  to  present 
the  argument  as  strongly  as  I  feel  it.  But  at  least  an 
outline  seemed  to  me  essential,  and  I  did  not  know, 
even  if  I  lived,  if  I  should  ever  iind  opportunity  to 
write  again. 

"If  this  book  makes  success  enough  to  insure  it  a  re- 
ception .  .  .  and  if  opportunity  is  given  me,  there 
are  two  books  I  should  like  to  write — one  a  brief  political 
economy,  which,  without  controversy,  should  lay  down 
the  principles  of  the  science,  and  make  of  it  a  harmoni- 
ous whole;  and  the  other  a  dissection  of  this  material- 
'  istic  philosophy  which,  with  its  false  assumption  of  sci- 
ence, passes  current  with  so  many. 

"You  speak  of  the  intellectual  poverty  of  this  coast. 
You  can  hardly  understand  how  deep  it  is,  for  of  course 
you  came  in  contact  with  the  highest  people,  and  they 


Age,  40-41]  THE  GROUND  OF  FAITH  329 

must  have  seemed  to  you  relatively  far  more  numerous 
than  they  really  are.  This  is  bad  enough;  but  what  is 
worse  is  the  moral  atmosphere — at  least  in  the  circles  in 
which  I  have  moved  and  lived.  Do  you  know  what  im- 
pressed me  so  much  with  you  and  made  me  want  to  talk 
with  you,  was  that  you  actually  believed  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul.  It  made  you  to  me  almost  a  curios- 
ity, and  I  thought  of  it  over  and  over  again.  It  was 
like  meeting  a  man  whose  opinion  was  worth  something 
who  told  you  he  saw  something  which  you  would  very 
much  like  to  see;  but  which  you  could  not  make  out  for 
yourself  and  which  every  one  around  you  whose  opinion 
was  worth  anything  said  did  not  exist  at  all.  At  that 
time  I  should  have  gladly  hailed  any  assurance  that  was 
to  be  found  in  spiritualism,  but  I  found  in  it  nothing 
but  humbug,  and  in  its  believers,  fools.^ 

"But  now  I  really,  and  for  myself,  believe  with  you. 
Out  of  the  train  of  thought  which  is  set  forth  in  that 
book;  out  of  the  earnest,  burning  desire  to  do  what  I 
might  to  relieve  human  misery  and  make  life  brighter, 
has  come  to  me  a  faith,  which,  though  it  is  not  as  defi- 
nite and  vivid  and  firm  as  must  be  the  Christian's  faith, 
when  it  is  really  felt,  is  yet  very  much  to  me.  The 
opportunity  to  write  that  book  came  out  of  crushing 
disaster,  and  it  represents  more  than  labour.  But  I 
would  not  forego  this  satisfaction  for  any  success.  And 
I  feel  that  there  is  much,  very  much,  of  which  I  get 
only  vague  glimpses  or  rather  suggestions  of  glimpses. 

"I  should  like  very  much  to  talk  with  you.  There 
are  so  many  things  on  which  I  should  like  to  compare 
notes  with  you.     Sometime  I  may  have  the  chance." 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  Henry  George  did  not  look  for  the 
initial  advancemcnnt  of  his  ideas  in  California,  As  John 
Eussell  Young  subsequently  said :  "George  never  for  a 
moment — never  when  under  the  grinding  heel  of  bitter 

1  Three  years  later  he  wrote  from  Brooklyn  to  Taylor:  "  There  is  evi- 
dently something  in  spiritualism;  liut  I  am  the  more  convinced  that  it  is 
a  bad  thing  to  have  anything  to  do  with." 


330  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

conditions — doubted  the  truth  of  his  mission  to  mankind 
and  its  ultimate  success.  But  this  obviously  was  not  to  be 
attained  in  Eldorado." 

All  was  not  against  him,  for  now  two  circumstances 
occurred  that  were  of  importance  to  him.  One  of  these 
concerned  the  translation  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  into 
German  by  a  cultured  man  named  C.  D.  F.  von  Giitschow, 
who,  having  lost  a  fortune  in  Germany>4iad  recently  come 
to  California  to  begin  life  anew,  and  who,  chancing  to 
read  a  copy  of  the  "Author's  Edition,"  was  so  impressed 
with  the  work  that  he  at  once  asked  for  permission  to 
translate  it.  Consent  was  gladly  given  on  the  single  con- 
dition that  the  translation  should  be  faithful.  Mr.  George 
could  read  no  foreign  tongue,  but  he  afterwards  had  as- 
surance that  this  translation  was  excellent — by  far  the 
best  of  three  soon  published  in  Germany. 

The  other  circumstance  of  importance  was  the  conver- 
sion of  a  scholarly  Englishman,  Dr.  Montague  E.  Leverson, 
who  had  personally  known  and  studied  under  William 
Ellis  and  John  Stuart  Mill,  and  who  had  in  1876  pub- 
lished in  New  York  a  primer  of  political  economy  for 
grammar  and  high  schools  and  the  lower  colleges.  He  had 
come  to  California  to  arrange  for  the  publication  and 
introduction  of  -the  book  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  but  learning 
of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  through  Professor  Joseph  Le- 
Conte  of  the  University  of  California,  he  declared,  imme- 
diatelj'^  on  reading  it,  that  he  had  met  his  master  in  the 
study  and  that  not  another  copy  of  his  primer  should  be 
issued  until  the  work  had  been  re-written.  This  mani- 
festation of  rare  intellectual  honesty  was  never  forgotten 
by  Mr.  George. 

But  George's  gaze  was  turned  eastward.  To  Dr.  Tay- 
lor, who  had  gone  to  Washington,  D.  C,  on  business,  he 
wrote  (February  17,  1880)  : 


Age,  40-41]  GATHERING  ATTENTION  331 

'^I  got  yesterday  the  first  European  notice  of  our 
book.  It  is  in  the  Parisian  'Revue  Scientifique/  signed 
by  Emile  de  Laveleye.  I  got  Phil  Roach  to  translate 
it  for  me.  It  is  first-class — says  the  book  has  instructed 
him  and  led  him  to  think;  indorses  substantially  the 
whole  programme ;  says  the  chapter  on  Decline  of  Civili- 
sation is  worthy  of  being  added  to  'De  Tocqueville's 
immortal  work/  etc.  So,  my  friend  in  need,  your  judg- 
ment is  being  verified.  The  'Graphic'  of  February  4, 
had  a  very  fine  notice.  I  am  told  also  that  there  have 
been  fine  notices  in  the  'Boston  Transcript'  and  in  some 
of  the  Cincinnati  papers;  but  have  not  yet  seen  them. 

"By  the  bye,  there  is  one  thing  I  would  like  to  have 
you  do  for  me  in  the  East  which  I  forgot  to  mention. 
Among  the  many  projects  which  I  have  been  vaguely 
meditating  is  that  of  lecturing  through  the  East.  I 
wish  if  you  can  get  time,  you  would  go  and  see  Red- 
path  or  some  other  of  the  Lecture  Bureau  people.  I 
had  a  card  from  Redpath  some  time  since  asking  about 
the  publisher  of  the  book.  Possibly  that  will  soon  get 
advertised  enough  to  enable  me  to  begin  to  draw  a  little, 
and  I  have  faith  in  my  own  ability  if  I  once  get  started. 
I  know  you  don't  share  that — but  I  have  always  felt  it, 
and  on  two  or  three  occasions  have  tested  it.  For  the 
present  I  am  doing  a  little  hack  work — and  waiting. 
But  soon  my  time  for  waiting  will  be  past." 

Mr.  George  sent  his  California  University  lecture,  "The 
Study  of  Political  Economy,"  to  the  "Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  owned  by  the  publishers  of  his  book,  D.  Ap- 
pleton  &  Co.  It  was  accepted  and  appeared  in  the  March 
number  (1880).  For  the  same  periodical  he  wrote  by  invi- 
tation on  "The  Kearney  Agitation  in  California,"  which 
appeared  in  August.  The  lecture  on  "Moses"  was  not 
suited  to  that  magazine,  but  under  the  title  of  "The  Leader 
of  the  Exodus,"  it  was  sent  to  another  American,  and 
afterwards  to  an  English,  periodical.  The  author  was  un- 
known and  the  article,  though  one  of  the  most  brilliant 


332  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

pieces  of  writing  that  ever  came  from  his  pen,  was  in 
both  instances  rejected. 

Again  George  wrote  to  Taylor  (March  12)  : 

"I  am  sorry  you  have  not  seen  or  heard  of  my  book. 
.  .  .  I  wish  you  would  go  into  one  of  the  Wash- 
ington bookstores  and  inquire  whether  they  have  it  or 
have  had  it.  You  know  how  I  feel  about  the  ultimate 
fate  of  the  book.  That  does  not  worry  me.  What  I 
am  concerned  about  is  the  meeting  of  my  obligations 
to  Hinton.  I  have  been  calculating  that  by  the  early 
part  of  next  month  I  could  get  a  return  or  an  advance 
from  Appleton  which  would  enable  me  to  square  up  with 
Hinton.  There  will  be  no  difficulty  if  the  book  is  sell- 
ing ;  but  it  will  be  hard  if  it  has  not  yet  begun.  Well ; 
we  shall  see. 

"I  have  been  sick  and  am  far  from  well — the  old 
trouble  of  which  I  have  several  times  spoken  to  you, 
growing  more  intense.  The  doctor  says  I  must  rest. 
That  is  the  best  prescription,  but  often  the  hardest  to 
take." 


The  illness  of  which  he  spoke  was  writer's  cramp  and 
biliousness,  with  bladder  trouble;  all  proceeding  from 
overwork  and  nervous  strain.  First  had  come  the  year 
and  a  half  of  hard  writing  and  then  the  long  months  of 
striving  and  waiting  for  results.  He  had  written  in  De- 
cember (1879)  to  John  Eussell  Young: 

"What  a  book  of  this  kind,  so  much  out  of  the  usual 
run,  really  needs  is  such  a  service  as  Mill  in  his  auto- 
biography speaks  of  having  rendered  to  Carlyle's  'French 
Eevolution'  in  a  first  review.  But  whether  it  is  at 
first  applauded  or  denounced  makes  little  difference, 
provided  it  is  treated  with  attention.  The  book  fairly 
started,  will  go.  This  is  not  merely  my  judgment;  it 
is  my  experience.  I  have  put  out  enough  copies  to  thor- 
oughly test  it,  and  I  am  more  than  satisfied  of  that." 


Age,  40-41]  FIRST  IMPORTANT   REVIEWS  333 

Towards  the  middle  of  March  (1880)  a  brilliant  review, 
that  covered  most  of  a  page,  appeared  in  the  "New  York 
Sun,"  from  the  pen  of  ]\I.  W.  Hazeltine.  What  it  meant 
to  the  author  he  wrote  to  John  Swinton  (March  23)  : 

"A  year  ago  to-day  I  finished  my  book  and  shipped  it 
off  to  seek  a  publisher.  After  the  toil  and  the  pains  of 
the  writing  came  the  anxiety,  the  rebuff,  the  weary 
waiting;  and  I  have  longed  that  by  this  day  at  least 
there  might  be  some  sure  sign  that  the  seed  I  tried  to 
plant  there  had  not  fallen  by  the  wayside.  This  re- 
view is  that  sign;  it  secures  for  my  book  that  attention 
which  is  all  I  ask." 


Important  reviews  soon  followed  in  other  Eastern  news- 
papers and  periodicals,  so  that  the  gaze  in  that  direction 
was  stronger  than  ever.  Moreover,  the  Appletons  wrote 
that  if  the  author  would  consent  to  a  reduction  in  copy- 
right, they  would  issue  a  dollar,  paper-covered  edition  of 
the  work,  to  which  he  gladly  agreed.  One  of  the  instru- 
ments in  bringing  this  about  was  a  young  man  in  the  Ap- 
pleton  employ,  A.  J.  Steers,  who  had  read  the  book  and 
was  enthusiastic  about  it.  Mr.  George  wrote  (April  4) 
in  reply  to  a  letter  from  him: 

"I  cannot  tell  you  how  grateful  your  letter  is  to  me 
and  how  much  I  thank  you  for  it.  I  have  wanted  a 
cheap  edition  very  much.     .     .     . 

"But  it  is  not  this  of  which  I  speak  so  much  as  the 
sympathy  and  interest  your  letter  expresses  and  which 
makes  me  feel  that  the  book  has  spoken  to  you  as  I  knew 
there  would  be  some  men  to  whom  it  would  speak. 
This  is  my  reward — the  verification  of  my  faith.  It 
is  very,  very  much  to  me — more  than  profit,  more  than 
fame.  I  knew  when  I  wrote  it  that  my  book  would 
sometime  find  sucli  men,  but  whether  I  should  ever  know 
it,  that  I  could  not  tell;  for  many  a  man  does  his  work 


334  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1879-1880 

and  in  this  life  sees  no  result.  And  no  matter  how 
much  of  a  success  the  book  may  become  in  my  lifetime, 
I  do  not  think  I  shall  be  proud  of  it,  as  men  are  proud 
of  writing  a  successful  history  or  novel.  The  feeling 
is  one  of  deep  gratitude  that  it  has  been  permitted  me 
to  do  something.  And  this,  already,  I  know — your  kind 
letter  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  it — that  every  here  and 
there  is  a  man  on  whom  these  ideas  have  taken  hold,  as 
they  have  taken  hold  of  me,  and  who  in  his  turn  will  be 
a  fresh  centre. 

"You  speak  of  how  little  you  can  do.  Did  you  ever 
think  of  it,  how  little  we  know  of  what  we  can  do,  or  of 
what  we  do?  Sometimes  a  word,  a  little  act,  starts  a 
train  that,  if  we  could  follow  it,  we  should  see  leads  to 
the  widest  results.  But  it  is  not  the  result  so  much 
as  the  effort  to  do  what  we  can,  with  which  we  are  con- 
cerned." 

At  length  John  Eussell  Young  wrote  hopefully  of  being 
able  to  get  George  a  writing  position  in  New  York  on  the 
"Herald"  that  would  permit  him  to  do  his  work  away  from 
the  office  and  give  him  much  time  to  himself.  Young  per- 
ceiving his  circumstances,  voluntarily  sent  him  money  with 
which  to  go  East.  Having  nothing  to  keep  him,  and 
arranging  to  pay  those  to  whom  he  owed  money  at  the 
earliest  opportunity,  in  August  of  1880  Henry  George  took 
train  for  New  York,  leaving  his  family  behind  him.  His 
purse  was  so  light  that  he  was  compelled  to  travel  third 
class.  But  no  sooner  had  he  got  well  started  than  his 
spirits  threw  off  their  depression,  and  although  he  was 
going  into  practically  a  new  world  where  he  had  not  half 
a  dozen  friends,  confidence  came,  for  the  time  of  waiting 
had  passed.  From  Winnemucca  he  wrote  back  to  Taylor, 
who  had  returned  to  San  Francisco:  "I  am  enjoying  the 
trip  and  am  full  of  hope.  The  spell  is  broken  and  I  have 
taken  a  new  start." 


CHAPTEE    II. 

COMMENCING    THE    NEW    YOEK    CAEEER. 

1880-1881.  Age,  41-42. 

IT  was  towards  the  middle  of  August,  1880,  that  Henry 
George  set  foot  in  New  York  almost  as  poor  in  the 
money  sense  as  any  immigrant  who  ever  landed  in  the 
great  city.  He  had  hut  three  personal  friends  there — the 
two  Swintons  (William  and  John)  and  Charles  Nordhoff  of 
the  "New  York  Herald."  John  Eussell  Young,  who  had 
spoken  hopefully  of  getting  him  a  place  on  the  "Her- 
ald," was  away.  On  returning,  he,  with  Nordhoff,  recom- 
mended George  for  a  vacant  writing  position  on  the  paper. 
No  action  was  taken  in  the  matter  for  some  time,  and 
word  eventually  came  that  there  was  no  chance  for  the 
San  Francisco  man.  The  hook,  first  fixed  at  two  dollars 
and  afterwards  at  one  dollar  (when  the  author  cut  his 
copyright  to  ten  per  cent.),  was  selling;  hut  as  yet  it 
yielded  little.  William  H.  Appleton,  at  the  head  of  the 
publishing  firm,  was  very  friendly,  and  so  also  was  Pro- 
fessor E.  L.  Youmans  of  the  "Popular  Science  Monthly." 
The  latter  invited  a  political  article  and  paid  for  it; 
though  it  was  not  used,  owing  to  a  change  in  editorial 
policy.  But  there  was  little  to  do  at  writing  just  now, 
and  the  eyes  of  the  California  man  turned  to  politics. 
The  Hancock-Garfield  Presidential  fight  had  commenced, 

335 


336  LIFE   OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1880-I88l 

and  from  a  visit  ^yith  William  Swinton  and  William  C. 
De  Witt  of  Brooklyn  to  Hancock  at  Governor's  Island, 
headquarters  of  the  Department  of  the  Atlantic,  which 
the  General  commanded,  Mr.  George  was  favourably  im- 
pressed with  the  candidate's  simplicity  and  manly  bearing. 
He  believed  that  as  two  generals  of  the  Civil  War  were 
contesting,  the  old  "bloody-shirt"  issues  could  not  be  used 
by  either  side,  and  therefore  that  there  would  be  a  chance 
for  new  ideas  and  radical  sentiments.  Suddenly  the  Ee- 
publicans  raised  the  tariff  issue,  declaring  for  protection 
and  denouncing  the  Democrats  for  free  traders.  The 
Democratic  managers  responded  with  a  straddle.  Just 
then  Henry  George  entered  the  campaign. 

"I  was  not  then  very  well  known  in  New  York,  but 
just  before  the  election,  when  the  tariff  issue  was  sprung, 
the  Democratic  Committee  sent  for  me  and  told  me 
they  had  heard  that  I  was  the  best  man  in  all  the  coun- 
try to  talk  to  the  working  men  on  the  question  of  the 
tariff.  I  told  them  I  didn't  know  about  that,  but  that 
I  could  talk  to  working  men  and  that  I  should  like  to 
talk  to  them  about  the  tariff.  They  asked  me  if  I 
would  go  out  and  make  some  speeches.  I  said,  'Cer- 
tainly I  will' ;  and  they  made  a  great  list  of  engagements 
for  me  that  ran  close  up  to  the  day  of  election,  so  that 
I  went  out.  Well,  it  seems  that  what  they  were  after 
was  somebody  to  tell  the  working  men  that  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  as  good  as  the  Eepublican  party  for 
the  tariff.  I  went  to  a  crowded  meeting.  The  gentle- 
man who  spoke  before  me  made  that  kind  of  a  speech 
and  tlion  I  was  put  on  the  platform.  I  told  them  that 
I  had  heard  of  a  high-tariff  Democrat,  though  I  could 
not  conceive  how  there  could  be  such  a  thing;  and  I 
knew  there  were  men  who  called  themselves  revenue- 
tariff  Democrats;  but  there  was  also  another  kind  of 
Democrat,  and  that  was  a  no-tariff  Democrat;  and  that 
what  was  wanted  was  to  sweep  away  the  custom  houses 
and  custom  house  officers  and  have  free  trade.     Well, 


Age,  41-42]  MADE  A  SENSATION  337 

the  audience  applauded,  but  you  ought  to  have  seen  the 
men  on  the  platform  there;  and  I  went  off  without  a 
man  to  shake  my  hand.  I  got  that  night  as  I  was  going 
to  my  next  engagement,  a  telegraphic  despatch  asking 
me  to  go  by  midnight  train  to  New  York.  The  chair- 
man of  the  committee  met  me  and  begged  me  not  to 
make  any  more  speeches."^ 


But  there  was  one  place  in  New  York  State  where 
Henry  George  could  talk  out  plainly  for  free  trade,  and 
that  was  in  Brooklyn.  Thomas  Kinsella,  editor  of  the 
"Brooklyn  Eagle,"  William  C.  De  Witt  and  a  number  of 
other  influential  Democrats  were  busy  fighting  the  Demo- 
cratic machine  in  the  city,  holding  lively  meetings  in 
Jefferson  Hall.  There  Mr.  George  was  invited  to  speak, 
and  he  fearlessly  demanded  the  abolition  of  custom  houses. 
Andrew  McLean,  then  managing  editor  of  the  "Eagle," 
but  now  editor  of  the  "Brooklyn  Citizen,"  says  of  that 
meeting : 

"I  had  read  'Progress  and  Poverty'  with  deep  pleasure 
and  had  reviewed  it  in  the  'Eagle.'  Time  and  again  I 
discussed  it  with  the  more  thoughtful  men  in  the  office. 
We  greeted  it  as  giving  clear  expression  to  those  vague 
and  misty  thoughts  that  had  been  floating  in  our  minds. 
I  had  not  met  Mr.  George  and  did  not  know  what  he 
looked  like.  One  night  during  the  Hancock  campaign 
I  dropped  into  Jefferson  Hall  while  a  mass  meeting  was 
being  held,  without  knowing  precisely  who  were  to 
speak.  I  was  tired  out  with  newspaper  and  election 
work  and  was  glad  to  find  a  seat  out  of  the  way,  and 
must  admit  that  1  drowsed  during  the  remarks  of  some 
of  our  more  or  less  familiar  Brooklyn  men.  Presently 
a  new  voice  commenced,  and  the  abrupt,  direct,  clear- 
cut  sentences,  together  with  the  radical  meaning  they 
bore,  startled  me.     I  stood  up  and  looked  at  the  new 

1  Speech  in  Birmingham,  England,  Jan.  2-3,  1884. 


338  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1880-1881 

speaker.  He  was  a  short,  sturdy  man,  with  scant  hair 
and  full  reddish  beard.  I  had  never  before  seen  him. 
But  I  could  not  mistake  his  style  of  speech.  I  said  to 
myself :  'Thou  art  the  man !  There  most  certainly  is 
the  author  of  that  book  "Progress  and  Poverty." '  I 
did  no  more  drowsing,  and  after  the  speech  was  over  I 
went  and  introduced  myself  to  Mr.  George." 

This  speech  of  Henry  George  was  a  rarity  in  the  cam- 
paign. Democratic  speakers  generally  dodged  the  tariff 
question,  and  General  Hancock  himself  pronounced  it  a 
"local  issue."  Mr.  George  believed  that  Hancock's  defeat, 
which  was  by  a  very  narrow  vote,  was  due  to  this  evasion. 

After  election  Mr.  George  was  still  at  sea  about  his 
plans.  His  Mdfe,  in  California,  wishing  to  lighten  his  bur- 
den had  taken  boarders,  and  his  oldest  boy  was  working 
in  a  printing  office  there.  George  wrote  to  Taylor  (October 
13)  :  "I  shall  not  go  back  to  California,  unless  for  some- 
thing. I  don't  know  precisely  what  I  shall  do,  but  some- 
thing will  open.  .  .  .  Don't  think  me  a  Micawber.  I 
shall  go  to  work  if  I  have  to  go  to  the  case." 

He  did  not  have  to  go  to  the  printer's  case ;  yet  for  a 
time  he  had  to  break  a  resolution  not  to  seek  or  to  accept 
employment  that  would  require  the  publication  of  any  of 
his  work  unsigned.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  said  of 
this  1880  period: 

"Mr.  Appleton  informed  me  that  among  the  men  he 
esteemed  of  great  reputation  who  had  expressed  admira- 
tion of  'Progress  and  Poverty'  was  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  a 
wealthy  man  and  a  Member  of  Congress ;  and  when  Mr. 
Hewitt  came  from  Europe  I  got  a  communication  from 
him  asking  to  see  me.  I  responded.  He  said  some 
good  things  of  the  ability  shown  in  'Progress  and  Pov- 
erty' and  that  he  would  like  to  get  me  to  do  some  work 
that  he  had  not  time  to  do  himself,  on  an  investigation 
commission's  report  that  he  intended  to  make  to  Con- 


Age,  41^2]  WEITING  FOR  HEWITT  339 

gress.  I  needed  work  and  could  not  refuse  to  put  what 
ability  I  had  at  his  service,  with  the  understanding  that 
I  was  to  do  faithfully  what  he  required  of  me  and  to 
keep  the  matter  secret,  allowing  him  to  make  whatever 
use  of  it  he  might  see  fit  over  his  own  signature  in  his 
report."^ 


To  Taylor,  George  wrote  confidentially  at  the  time 
(November  20,  1880)  : 

"1  have  taken  a  job  from  Hewitt  to  prepare  a 
Congressional  report — the  labour  investigation.  Have 
agreed  to  give  him  three  hours  a  day  for  $50  per  week, 
till  the  thing  is  done,  or  either  of  us  is  dissatisfied. 
So,  raising  a  little  money  in  advance,  I  have  taken 
a  room.  .  .  .  My  Job  begins  to-morrow.  Before  it 
gets  through,  unless  it  should  terminate  suddenly,  I 
shall  have  got  my  feet  down.  I  shall  get,  first  thing, 
a  suit  of  clothes,  and  make  some  acquaintances." 

As  will  be  seen,  other  writing  interrupted  the  Hewitt 
work,  which  ended,  as  noted  in  a  letter  to  Taylor  (March 
G,  1881)  : 

"I  took  my  matter  down  to  Hewitt  and  read  it  to  him. 
He  was  much  pleased  with  it  and  laid  out  what  he 
wanted  done  in  the  further  steps;  but  when  I  asked 
him  for  another  $100  he  changed  his  tune,  thought  it 
was  costing  too  much,  and  that  he  would  stop.  I  told 
him  I  was  very  glad,  that  I  felt  I  was  working  too 
cheap,  but  that  having  undertaken  it  I  had  not  wished 
to  say  anything.  So  I  stopped,  though  it  was  incon- 
venient to  do  so  right  then,  as  I  had  laid  my  plans  on 
getting  another  $100  to-day.     I  got  the  first  $100  of 

1  Roused  by  some  piiLlic  remarks  made  by  Mr.  Hewitt  durinp;  the  1897 
New  York  Mayoralty  campait^n,  Mr.  George  dictated  this  statement  to  a 
stenographer,  but  subsequently  concluded  that  its  publication  then  was 
not  appropriate.     His  death  soon  followed  and  it  never  appeared. 


340  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1880-1881 

course.  It  really  ought  to  have  been  more  under  our 
agreement,  but  I  had  that  uncomfortable  feeling  that 
prevents  you  from  making  out  your  bills  in  first-class 
style,  and  though  I  had  intended  the  $100  to  be  only 
on  account,  said  nothing  about  any  more." 


The  best  information  as  to  the  way  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty" was  going  and  other  matters  of  interest  is  found  in 
correspondence  with  Taylor. 

November  20,  1880. 

"I  did  feel  depressed  when  I  wrote  you  before.  But 
it  was  not  so  much  on  account  of  circumstances.  I  am 
in  my  way  of  thinking  a  good  deal  of  a  Stoic.  Adverse 
fortune  does  not  much  depress  me.  What  always  wor- 
ries me  is  the  thought  that  I  might  have  done  better — 
that  it  is  myself  who  is  to  blame — and  it  seemed  to 
me  then  as  if  I  had  been  fooling  away  my  time  very 
largely.  The  fact  of  course  is  that  I  have  been  labour- 
ing under  many  disadvantages.  However,  there  is  no 
use  in  talking  about  that. 

"I  found  when  I  got  here  that  the  book  had  had  noth- 
ing like  a  fair  start  in  the  East,  and  the  political  com- 
paign  seemed  to  check  its  sale.  I  think  now  that  it  is 
going  to  start  off.  The  first  copies  of  the  paper  [75 
cent]  edition  were  received  in  the  store  this  afternoouj 
and  one  will  go  to  you  by  the  mail  which  follows  this. 
The  preface  bothered  me  very  much.  I  wrote  two  or 
three — possibly  enough  for  ten — and  finally  throwing  it 
all  aside,  came  down  to  a  simple  summary  of  the  book.^ 

"I  suppose  you  saw  the  'Atlantic  Monthly's'  double- 
barrelled  notice. 

"I  got  to-day  a  letter  from  Wm.  D.  LeSueur  of  On- 
tario, who  has  an  article  in  the  July  'Science  Monthly.' 
I  gave  him  a  copy  of  the  book  when  I  met  him  here, 
and  I  attach  a  good  deal  of  importance  to  his  opinion, 
for  he  is  a  man  of  weight.     .     .     .     He  started  in,  of 

1  Preface  appearing  in  the  fourth  and  all  subse(iuent 
editions  of  "  Progress  and  Poverty." 


Age  41-42]  AWAKENING  RECOGNITION  341 

course,  all  against  it,  for,  in  addition  to  previous  pre- 
dilections, Goldwin  Smith,  for  whom  he  has  a  good  deal 
of  respect,  sat  do^\^l  on  it.  But  he  writes  me  that  he 
has  never  read  a  book  with  so  much  interest ;  that  during 
the  last  few  days  while  he  was  reading  the  last  part  he 
could  think  of  nothing  else ;  that  he  is  a  thorough  con- 
vert, with  the  exception  that  he  thinks  the  men  to 
whom  the  State  has  sold  lands  ought  to  get  some  recom- 
pense, though  he  admits  that  there  would  be  infinitely 
less  injustice  in  giving  them  nothing  than  in  continuing 
the  present  system ;  and  that  now  his  most  ardent  desire 
is  to  be  a  co-worker  for  the  destruction  of  private  prop- 
erty in  land.  ...  In  short  he  wants  to  be  counted 
in,  and  proposes  to  begin  the  campaign  in  Canada. 
Now  here  is  a  man  who  in  my  opinion  is  worth  half  the 
college  professors  in  the  United  States. 

"I  showed  the  letter  to  Youmans,  who  has  a  very 
great  opinion  of  Le Sueur,  and  he  at  the  same  time  was 
reading  a  letter  from  another  man,  Professor  Ellis,  I 
believe,  of  whom  he  has  also  a  great  opinion,  and  to 
whom  he  had  given  a  copy  of  'P.  and  P.'  Ellis  also  said 
it  was  a  most  remarkable  book — the  most  profound  and 
original  book  on  such  subjects  yet  produced  in  America ; 
that  it  ought  to  be  immediately  translated  into  German 
(he  had  just  returned  from  three  years  there)  and  that 

for  his  part  he  proposed  to  write  a  review  for (some 

unpronounceable  name).  Youmans  proposed  to  have 
these  letters  copied,  that  he  might  send  them  to  Kegan 
Paul  [publisher]  of  London,  to  whom  he  wrote  a  few 
days  ago  in  reference  to  an  English  edition. 

"Did  I  tell  you  that  Michael  Davitt  pledged  the  Land 
League  to  push  it  in  Great  Britain?  I  shall  send  him 
copies  by  Tuesday's  steamer. 

"I  lecture  in  Hudson  (IST.  Y.)  on  the  6th,  beginning 
a  'star  course.'  I  am  to  be  followed  by  David  A.  Wells, 
Park  Godwin  and  Eaton  (Civil-Service  Eeformer). 

December  18,  1880. 
"I  got  to-day  copies  of  the  German  translation,  as  far 
as  out — 8   numbers  to  beginning  of  Book   XL     It   is 
very  neatly  and  tastefully  gotten  up.     I  also  got  a  long 


342  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I88O-188I 

letter  from  the  publisher.  He  says  it  will  be  a  success, 
and  that  a  number  of  long  reviews  are  being  prepared. 
The  whole  will  be  out  this  month.     .     .     . 

"I  dined  with  Albert  S.  Bolles,  author  of  'Financial 
History,'  etc.,  on  Tuesday.  Last  night  I  dined  with 
Dana  of  the  'Sun,'  the  company  consisting  of  his  fam- 
ily, Hazeltine,  the  reviewer,  John  Swinton  and  myself. 
He  lives  in  magnificent  style.  I  have  plenty  of  chance 
to  go  into  company,  but  have  hitherto  kept  out  of  it; 
for  until  last  week  I  had  only  my  old  clothes,  and  last 
night  felt  rather  out  of  place,  when  seated  on  the  right 
of  the  hostess,  yet  the  only  man  in  the  room  in  a  busi- 
ness suit.     However ! 

"My  wife  tliinks  she  can  get  along  cheaper  at  board- 
ing than  keeping  house,  and  so  I  have  told  her  to  sell  out. 
.  .  .  So  life  goes.  My  pleasant  little  home — that  I 
was  so  comfortable  in — is  gone,  and  I  am  afloat  at  43, 
poorer  than  at  21.  I  do  not  complain;  but  there  is  some 
bitterness  in  it." 

January  4,  1881. 

"...  About  the  book.  At  last,  it  begins  to 
look  as  though  it  had  really  taken  hold.  When  I  came 
East  I  found  that  it  had  hardly  got  started  here.  And 
during  the  campaign  and  until  the  last  two  weeks  in 
December  it  went  very  slow.  But  then  a  movement 
began,  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  every  copy  of  the 
previous  editions  and  every  copy  of  the  1,000  of  the 
cheap  edition  were  gone,  and  orders  and  inquiries  came 
piling  in  from  every  quarter.  Appleton  &  Co.  begin  to 
realise  for  the  first  time  that  I  have  been  telling  thom 
the  truth,  and  that  they  have  got  hold  of  a  book  capable 
of  an  enormous  sale;  and  now  the}^  are  beginning  to 
open  out. 

"Comparatively  speaking,  the  success  of  the  book  is 
already  tremendous — for,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  no  book 
on  political  economy  has  ever  3^et  been  published  in  the 
United  States  (or  to  my  astonishment,  I  learn  in  Eng- 
land either)  that  has  sold  1,000  copies  in  the  first  year 
(unless  forced  into  the  schools),  and  in  fact  the  entire 
sales  of  most  of  them  are  to  be  counted  in  hundreds. 


Age,  41^2]  A  LITERARY  CONQUEST  343 

not  thousands.  My  book  is  getting  to  be  regarded  here 
as  the  phenomenal  one,  and  such  publishers  as  Holt  are 
already  regretting  that  they  did  not  take  it  when  they 
had  a  chance. 

"And  to-day  I  get  the  first  ringing  note  from  the 
radicals  of  England  in  a  copy  of  the  Leeds  'Indepen- 
dent,' which  declares  it  a  book  which  every  Englishman 
ought  to  read,  and  proposes  to  receive  subscriptions  for 
it.^     The  future  of  the  book  is,  I  think,  secure. 

"...  I  want  to  go  and  see  John  Eussell  Young. 
His  wife  is  dying.  Poor  fellow !  his  cup  seems  filled 
to  the  brim. 

"P.  S.  Mrs.  Young  is  dead.  I  add  this  in  Young's 
room,  where  I  am  staying  to  receive  his  brother-in-law 
from  Philadelphia.  .  .  .  General  Grant  has  left, 
after  a  long  stay.  That  is  one  good  thing  about  the  old 
fellow;  he  is  true  to  his  friends." 

Januaryi21,  1881. 

"The  book  is  a  success.  The  sale  sems  now  to  have 
commenced  in  good  earnest,  and  orders  are  coming  from 
all  parts  of  the  country — in  ones,  two  and  tens  and 
twenties.  Better  still,  Kegan  Paul,  who  has  hardly 
more  than  got  his  500  [from  Appleton]  writes  that  he 
will  probably  want  more  and  arranges  a  cypher  so  that 
he  can  cable.  The  German  notices  are  way  up.  It  has 
at  last  got  a  show  in  Europe.     .     .     . 

"You  will  see  by  the  Topular  Science'  this  month 
that  Youmans  has  at  last  read  Book  X.  of  'Progress 
and  Poverty'  ['The  Law  of  Human  Progress'].  He  him- 
self is  the  best  example  of  the  need  of  that  book.  He 
would  not  take  the  trouble  to  vote  at  election  time,  said 
that  he  should  have  to  slowly  evolute,  and  has  told  me 
several  times  that  there  was  no  use  in  trying  to  fight 
evils  of  which  he  himself  is  as  conscious  as  any  one, 
as  to  get  rid  of  them  is  a  matter  of  thousands  of 
years !" 

1  The  editor  of  the  Leeds  "Independent"  was  Dr.  F  R.  Lees,  the  dis- 
tinguished temperance  ailvocate.  He  had  read  while  on  a  visit  to  United 
States  a  copy  of  the  "'  Author's  Edition  "  of  "  Progress  and  Poverty." 


344  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I88O-I88I 

January  23,  1881. 

"Slowly  but  steadily  everything  seems  opening  to 
me.  If  I  live  I  am  going  to  fill  a  large  place  and  do  a 
large  work — that  now  is  clear. 

"Do  you  see  how  the  'Sun'  is  opening  up  the  taxation 
question  and  advertising  me?  Chip  in,  if  you  have 
leisure,  with  some  short  communications.  There  is  some 
satisfaction  in  writing  for  a  paper  that  prints  over 
120,000.  I  suppose  you  have  seen  the  'Popular  Science' 
for  this  month.  Youmans  says  I  don't  make  converts; 
I  find  them  in  all  directions.     Every  day  I  get  letters." 


To  the  picture  of  conditions  at  this  time,  which  these 
letters  from  George  to  Taylor  give,  must  be  added  a  de- 
scription from  memory  which  John  Eussell  Young  wrote 
the  day  following  his  friend's  death. 

"These  early  New  York  days  were  of  extreme  and 
honourable  poverty.  I  saw  Henry  George  a  great  deal 
— was  almost  a  daily  companion.  It  was  a  daring  ex- 
periment— this  unknown  gentleman,  with  no  aid  but 
his  own  high  spirit,  nothing  in  his  carpet-bag  but  one 
book  of  gospel,  com.ing  at  43  to  make  his  way  into  the 
heart  of  mighty  Babylon.  The  more  I  studied  George 
under  heavy  conditions  the  more  I  admired  him.  His 
ability  and  his  courage;  his  honesty,  independence  and 
intellectual  power  were  those  of  a  leader  of  men. 

"We  took  Avalks  on  the  Battery,  whither  we  went 
under  the  flush  of  strenuous  midnight  work,  the  great 
city  at  peace  and  no  companions  this  side  of  the  stars; 
strolls  in  the  Park,  in  Westchester  and  the  suburbs  of 
Brooklyn — the  brave,  intrepid  soul  wrapped  up  in  his 
book  and  smiling  upon  fate.     .     .     . 

"George  was  resolute  in  his  creed.  He  gave  it  to  you 
as  the  truth  to  be  accepted,  in  a  sense  of  worship,  a 
dogma  of  political  infallibility.  'Does  this  not  mean 
war?  Can  you,  unless  when  dealing  with  craven  con- 
ditions among  men,  hope  to  take  land  from  its  owners 
without  war?'     'I  do  not  see,'  said  George,  'that  a  mus- 


Age,  41-42]  IRISH  LAND  QUESTION  345 

ket  need  be  fired.  But  if  necessary,  war  be  it,  then. 
There  was  never  a  holier  cause.  No,  never  a  holier 
cause.' 

"Here  was  the  gentlest  and  kindest  of  men,  who 
would  shrink  from  a  gun  fired  in  anger,  ready  for  uni- 
versal war  rather  than  that  his  gospel  should  not  be 
accepted.  It  was  the  courage  which  as  has  been  writ- 
ten makes  one  a  majority." 


Mr.  George  had  for  a  while  stopped  work  on  the  Hewitt 
report  to  write  an  article  on  the  Irish  Land  Question  for 
"Appleton's  Journal."  The  subject  growing  on  him,  he 
kept  on  with  his  writing  until  he  had  a  little  book  of  seven- 
teen chapters.  In  this  brief  work  he  gave  the  first  striking 
evidence  of  a  high  order  of  practical  ability,  showing  that, 
besides  the  genius  to  formulate  a  philosophy,  he  had  the 
wisdom  to  avail  himself  of  passing  events  to  apply  it. 

On  April  20,  1879,  the  month  after  the  completion  of 
"Progress  and  Poverty,"  Michael  Davitt,  fresh  from  seven 
years  of  penal  servitude  in  an  English  prison  for  devotion 
to  the  principle  of  Irish  independence,  had  organised  a 
mass  meeting  in  Irishtown,  County  Mayo,  Ireland,  for 
John  Ferguson  and  Thomas  Brennan  to  address,  in  denun- 
ciation of  the  landlord  tyranny  and  rack-renting  that  were 
driving  the  western  peasantry  into  starvation.  With  the 
cry  of  "The  land  for  the  people,"  he  struck  a  spark  that 
kindled  a  spreading  fire.  The  failure  of  physical  resist- 
ance to  the  English  power,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Par- 
liamentary action  by  Parnell  and  his  legislative  colleagues, 
on  the  other,  drove  all  the  Irish  faction  into  Davitt's 
movement,  to  make  common  war  on  the  landlords.  This 
landlord  class,  though  comparatively  small  and  living  for 
the  most  part  in  England,  not  only  made  a  heavy  rent 
charge  upon  the  toil  of  the  labouring  masses,  but  wielded 
pretty  much  all  political  power,  filling  all  local  offices. 


346  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [I88O-I88I 

such  as  sheriffs",  grand  jurors',  and  justices  of  the  peace, 
besides  through  their  class  interests  controlling  legislation 
in  the  Imperial  British  Parliament.  In  the  fall  of  1879 
the  Irish  Xational  Land  League  was  formally  organised 
in  Dublin,  with  Parnell  as  president  and  Davitt  as  one 
of  the  honorary  secretaries.  It  was  to  supersede  the  Home 
Eule  League,  of  which  Parnell  had  been  the  head,  and  was 
to  be  the  official  organisation  of  so  much  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liamentary i^arty  as  acknowledged  his  leadership.  Its  im- 
mediate purpose  was  to  "bring  about  a  reduction  of  rack- 
rents.''  It  was  also,  at  least,  so  far  as  Parnell  and  his 
particular  adherents  were  concerned,  to  facilitate  the  crea- 
tion of  a  peasant  proprietary,  in  enabling  tenants  to  be- 
come owners  of  their  holdings  by  paying  a  "fair"  rent  for 
a  limited  number  of  years.  There  was  division  over  this 
latter  purpose,  however.  Davitt,  the  fire  and  soul  of  the 
extending  organisation,  continued  to  proclaim  the  prin- 
ciple of  "the  land  for  the  people,"  including  in  its  benefits, 
though  somewhat  vaguely,  not  only  all  the  tenant  farmers, 
but  the  much  greater  class  of  agricultural  labourers  as 
well.  And  Patrick  Ford,  of  the  "Irish  World,"  a  weekly 
newspaper  published  in  I^ew  York  and  devoted  to  Irish 
and  Irish-American  affairs,  the  great  organising  factor  in 
the  United  States,  took  his  stand  on  the  old  Irish  doc- 
trine that  the  land  of  Ireland  "belongs  to  the  whole  Irish 
people  .  .  .  without  exception  of  persons,"  and  he  de- 
manded that  it  "be  restored  to  its  owners  with  all  pos- 
sible speed." 

While  these  differing  principles  and  purposes  were  put 
forward  by  the  respective  factions,  all  united  to  defend 
those  Irish  agricultural  tenants  who  were  threatened  with 
eviction  for  refusing  to  pay  "unjust"  rents.  This  was 
striking  the  ruling  class  on  the  "sensitive  pocket  nerve," 
and  both  sides  pre2:)ared  for  war.     The  Irish  Land  League 


Age,  41^3] 


LAND   LEAGUE  WAR  347 


needed  money.  Parnell,  with  Dillon,  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  with  the  truly  powerful  backing  of  the  "Irish 
World,"  spoke  to  great  meetings  in  sixty-two  cities,  ad- 
dressed the  House  of  Eepresentatives  at  Washington,  col- 
lected a  war  chest  of  $200,000,  and  before  leaving  in  March, 
1880,  formally  organised  the  auxiliary  xlmerican  Land 
League. 

Knowing  that  Parnell  was  a  land-owner,  with  views  and 
feelings  of  the  land-owning  class,  and  that  he  had  been 
educated  in  a  conservative  English  university,  George  did 
not  expect  much  in  the  way  of  radical  action  from  him, 
though  he  believed  radical  public  opinion  would  sweep  him 
along.  But  to  Davitt,  born  a  Mayo  peasant,  and  by  in- 
stinct a  ''man  of  the  people,"  George  looked  with  high 
hope,  and  when  Davitt  came  to  America  on  Land  League 
business,  towards  the  fall  of  1880,  George  met  him,  with 
the  result,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  letter  to  Taylor :  "Davitt 
pledges  the  I^and  League  to  push  it  ["Progress  and  Pov- 
erty"] in  Great  Britain." 

Mr.  George  perceived  that  the  Irish  rent-war  was  fast 
making  that  country  the  theatre  in  the  world-wide  drama 
of  the  land  question.  He  therefore  addressed  himself  to  it 
in  his  pamphlet,  under  the  title  of  "The  Irish  Land  Ques- 
tion :  What  It  Involves,  and  How  Alono  It  can  be  Settled." 
He  aimed  to  show  that  the  only  solution  lay  in  observ- 
ing the  principle  of  common  ownership  in  land,  by  taking, 
through  the  medium  of  taxation,  the  rental  value  for  all 
the  people.  Thus  the  advantage  that  the  rack-renting 
landlord  class  had  hitherto  possessed  would  be  transferred 
to  the  people  as  a  whole,  and  no  one  would  get  any  ad- 
vantage as  a  mere  landholder.  But  he  did  not  have  Ire- 
land alone  in  his  mind.     Said  he:^ 

1  "The  Land  Question,"  Chap.  XYII  (Memorial  Edition,  pp.  106,  107). 


348  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I88O-188I 

"What  I  urge  the  men  of  Ireland  to  do  is  to  proclaim 
without  limitation  or  evasion,  that  the  land,  of  natural 
right,  is  the  common  property  of  the  whole  people,  and 
to  propose  practical  measures  which  will  recognise  this 
right  in  Great  Britain  as  well  as  in  Ireland.  What  I 
urge  the  Land  Leagues  of  the  United  States  to  do  is 
to  announce  this  great  principle  as  of  universal  applica- 
tion; to  give  their  movement  a  reference  to  America 
as  well  as  to  Ireland;  to  broaden  and  deepen  and 
strengthen  it  by  making  it  a  movement  for  the  regen- 
eration of  the  world — a  movement  which  shall  concen- 
trate and  give  shape  to  aspirations  that  are  stirring 
among  all  nations." 


The  pamphlet  was  finished  at  the  end  of  February  and 
was  at  once  published  by  Appleton  in  Xew  York,  and  a 
month  later  by  William  Eeeves  in  London,  John  Haywood 
&  Sons  in  Manchester  and  Cameron  &  Ferguson  in 
Glasgow. 

Mr.  George  had  meanwhile  brought  his  family  East, 
and  was  with  them  boarding  at  Fort  Washington  in  the 
upper  part  of  New  York.  At  times  he  was  very  hard 
pressed  for  money  and  once  drew  on  Taylor  in  far-off  San 
Francisco  for  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars.  We  quote  again 
from  the  Taylor  correspondence. 

"  'The  Irish  Land  Question'  has  been  noticed  mag- 
nificently: 2l^  columns  in  'Times,'  2Y2  in  'Sun,'  1  in 
'Express,'  2i^  in  'Star,'  3I/2  in  'Charleston  News,'  etc. 
And  the  astonishing  thing  is  the  goodness  of  the  com- 
ments. Nothing  like  the  back  action  of  the  early  no- 
tices of  'Progress  and  Poverty.'  I  am  getting  famous, 
if  I  am  not  making  money.  I  have  two  magazine  ar- 
ticles and  a  cyclopedia  article  to  write^  and  if  that 
'Herald'  thing  does  not  turn,  can,  I  think,  go  on  the 

1  On  "Chinese  Immif^ration  "  for  Lalor's  "Cyclopedia 
of  Political  Science,  Political  Economy,"  etc. 


Age,  41^2]  INCREASING  EEPUTATION  349 

'Brooklyn  Eagle.'     1  am  going  to  give  the  'Moses'  lec- 
ture before  long. 

"About  the  railroad  people :  McClatchy  of  Sacramento 
told  my  wife  that  Leland  Stanford  (to  Avhom  he  sent 
'Progress  and  Poverty')  read  it  while  sick,  and  told  him 
that  he  had  become  'a  disciple  of  Henry  George.'  If 
that  means  anything,  it  will  tell." 

May  12,  1881. 

"Inclosed  find  check  for  $20.  .  .  .  You  do  not 
know,  and  I  cannot  readily  tell  you  how  much  this  little 
accommodation  has  been  to  me.  It  is  not  so  much  the 
want  of  money  as  the  mental  effect  it  produces — the 
morbid  condition.  The  man  who  does  not  understand 
that,  does  not  know  how  it  is  possible  for  people  to 
commit  suicide.  This  thing  has  weighted  me  very 
much.  Could  I  have  felt  free  and  been  relieved  of  the 
terrible  anxiety,  I  could  have  in  the  same  time  accom- 
plished many  times  as  much.  But  yet  it  has  seemed 
as  though  a  Providence  helped  me  through. 

"When  I  drew  on  you  for  this  $30  it  seemed  my 
darkest  hour.  I  was  weak  and  weary  in  mind  and 
body.     .     . 

"Article  of  mine  in  'Appleton's'  for  this  month.  Got 
pay  for  that — $50.  'Scribner's'  will  have  an  article 
pitching  into  me,  which  I  hear  privately  is  by  Professor 
Sumner.  None  of  those  people  have  dared  attack  openly 
yet." 

May  25,  1881. 

"Why  do  you  allow  the  papers  there  to  abuse  me 
without  sending  me  a  copy?  To  be  abused  and  not  to 
know  of  it  is  almost  as  bad  as  not  to  be  abused  at 
all.     .     .     . 

"Yes:  look  at  the  Eepublican  party,  and  also  look  at 
the  Democratic  party !    It  is  pot  and  kettle.    I  am  done. 

"...  I  shall  have  article  in  'Appleton's'  for 
June  and  in  'ISTorth  American'  for  Julv — 'pot  boilers' 
both."^ 

1  " 'I'lii'  Taxation  of  Land  Values,"  "Appleton's  Journal,"  June,  1881; 
'•  Conuaon  Sense  in  Taxation,"  "North  American  Review,"  July,  1881. 


350  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [I88O-I88I 

Meanwhile  Mr.  George  had  begun  to  lecture.  Early 
in  May  (1881)  he  spoke  in  Chickering  Hall,  New  York, 
and  shortly  afterwards  in  Historical  Hall,  Brooklyn;  in 
both  places,  of  course,  on  the  land  question.  The  weather 
on  both  occasions  was  warm,  but  nevertheless  he  made 
$130  on  the  first  and  nearly  $200  on  the  second.  A  lot  of 
young  converts  managed  the  New  York  lecture.  Eev. 
E.  Heber  Newton,  of  All  Soul's  Episcopal  Church,  intro- 
duced Mr.  George,  having  a  few  days  before  found  that 
this  was  the  friend  of  his  boyhood.  Andrew  McLean, 
of  the  "Eagle,"  arranged  for  the  Brooklyn  lecture. 
Through  him  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  who  had  won  a  repu- 
tation at  the  New  York  bar,  as  a  skilful  corporation  law- 
yer and  as  the  successful  defender  and  devoted  friend 
of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  was  interested  in  this  lecture 
and  met  Mr.  George  for  the  first  time.  It  was  the  be- 
ginning of  a  life-long  friendship.  Mr.  Shearman  had  but 
just  read  "Progress  and  Poverty"  and  had  been  deeply 
impressed  with  it;  but  he  doubted  whether  rent  alone 
w^ould  suffice  to  pay  all  taxes,  while  he  objected  to  the  use 
of  the  word  "confiscation."  He  was  an  aggressive  free 
trader  and  had  spent  much  time  and  money  in  agitating 
against  the  protective  tariff  idea.  But  he  had  not  yet 
fully  grasped  the  fact  that  all  tariffs  and  all  indirect  taxes 
were  unjust,  because  they  tax  poverty  far  more  than 
wealth;  nor  did  "Progress  and  Poverty"  call  his  attention 
to  this.  He  now  studied  the  subject  on  statistical  lines; 
and  in  a  few  months  starting  from  an  opposite  point  of 
view  and  on  an  entirely  independent  line  of  reasoning 
he  arrived  at  substantially  the  same  conclusions  witli 
Henry  George.  Soon  after  their  meeting,  by  his  invitation, 
Mr.  George  addressed  the  Brooklyn  Revenue  Reform  Club, 
of  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  president;  and  before 
long  the  distinguished  lawyer  was  in  his  own  way  working 


Age,  41-42]  ENTERS  LECTURE   FIELD  351 

on  the  same  radical  lines  as  Mr.  George,  with  an  energy 
that  caused  the  latter  to  write  to  him:  "You  suggest  to 
me  what  was  said  of  Brougham,  'a  steam-engine  in 
breeches.' " 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  George 
joined  the  New  York  Free  Trade  Club  through  one  of 
its  active  young  men,  Poultney  Bigelow,  son  of  John 
Bigelow,  ex-United  States  Minister  to  France.  Young 
Bigelow  was  a  convert  to  "Progress  and  Poverty"  and  of 
his  abilities  and  prospects  for  influence  in  the  community 
Mr.  George  thought  highly.  Soon  after  joining  the  club 
the  author  attended  a  Free  Trade  Club  dinner.  He  was 
surprised  and  disgusted  at  the  lack  of  radical  spirit  mani- 
fested in  the  speeches,  it  being  evident  that  with  the  gen- 
erality of  members  "free  trade"  meant  only  "tariff  re- 
form." He  wrote  to  Bigelow,  who  could  not  get  there, 
that  being  called  upon  to  speak,  he  gave  them  "four  min- 
utes' worth  of  horse  sense." 

It  was  with  important  results  that  Henry  George  now 
began  to  lecture  before  the  Land  League  organisations, 
writing  Taylor  (June  13),  "I  talk  here  [Saint  Albans, 
Vermont]  to-morrow  night,  and  then  go  to  Montreal  (two 
lectures),  Ottawa  and  Toronto,  and  four  or  five  places  in 
New  York  on  the  way  back.  Eutland  and  this  place  are 
$35  each;  Montreal  and  Ottawa,  speculation;  Toronto, 
$50,  and  the  others  $25  each.  Good  enough  though  to 
see  the  country  and  get  my  hand  in."  But  "getting  his 
hand  in"  involved,  as  most  other  things  did  with  him, 
concentrated  effort.  Here,  for  instance,  are  two  of  the 
casual  diary  notes: 

"Montreal,  June  16. — Lecture  'Irish  Land  Question' 
a  total  failure.  Don't  know  whether  to  attribute  it  to 
bad  physical  condition,  or  that  I  cannot  get  up  enthu- 
siasm in  going  over  same  ground  twice.     This  certain, 


352  LIFE   OF   HENEY  GEORGE  [I88O-I88I 

that  I  should  have  written  it  beforehand.  Will  try  to 
do  better  to-morrow.  Feel  very  bad,  but  must  try  to 
pluck  victory  from  defeat." 

"Montreal,  June  17. — Did  it.     Best  ever  have  done. 
Astonished  and  pleased  them  all." 

The  lecture  programme  in  the  N'orth  was  cut  short  and 
diverted  West — Mr.  George  making  a  trip  to  San  Fran- 
cisco with  his  wife  and  younger  daughter  to  attend  to 
some  private  business  of  a  friend.^  On  August  11  he  lec- 
tured there  on  the  land  question  in  Metropolitan  Temple, 
but  now  instead  of  the  "beggarly  array  of  empty  benches" 
which  had  greeted  him  while  he  was  writing  "Progress 
and  Poverty,"  a  large  audience  was  attracted  by  the  world- 
renown  his  book  was  winning.  The  early  friends  and  be- 
lievers were  there  and  were  filled  with  cheer  and  enthu- 
siasm over  this,  to  them,  remarkable  manifestation  of 
change  in  the  public  mind.  But  even  this  was  not  with- 
out its  shadow  for  the  lecturer.  On  the  afternoon  pre- 
ceding the  discourse  he  sent  a  note  to  Taylor :  "One  of  my 
creditors  has  been  after  me,  and  I  fear  some  of  them  may 
make  an  attempt  to  garnishee  proceeds  to-night.  I  should 
like  to  consult  you,  but  cannot  go  down,"     However,  this 

1  Mr.  George  had  found  in  the  spring  tliat  he  was  not  without  honour  in 
California,  for  at  the  time  that  John  F.  Miller,  Republican,  was  elected 
by  the  California  legislature  to  the  United  States  Senate,  Henry  George 
received  two  complimentary  votes,  those  of  George  C.  Gorhani  of  San 
Francisco  and  Warren  S.  Chase  of  Santa  Barbara  and  Ventura,  the  latter 
saying,  in  making  the  nomination :  "I  shall  name  neither  a  lawyer  nor  a 
soldier,  but  a  political  economist  who  has  distinguished  himself  and  ac- 
quired a  national  reputation  ;  who  is  throughout  the  world  recognised 
as  the  peer  of  such  intellects  as  Ricardo,  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Malthus." 
Though  Mr.  George  wrote  to  James  V.  Coffey,  who  apprised  him  of  the 
occurrence,  "  I  presume  that  is  about  as  near  as  I  shall  ever  come  to  being 
elected  to  anything,"  yet  he  appreciated  the  compliment. 


Age,  41-42]  FRANCIS  GEORGE   SHAW  353 

matter  was  arranged  and  before  Mr.  George  left  San  Fran- 
cisco he  had  paid  off  all  but  a  small  portion  of  the  old 
debts  there.  On  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  the  East  his 
intimate  friends  gave  him  an  informal  little  dinner  at 
Campi's  restaurant  on  Clay  Street,  in  the  centre  of  his 
old  activities,  and  sent  him  off  with  a  fervent  God  speed. 
On  his  return  to  New  York  the  Appleton  people  had 
surprising  news  for  him.  One  thousand  copies  of  the 
best  edition  of  "Progresss  and  Poverty"  had  been  ordered 
by  Francis  G.  Shaw,  a  man  of  means  and  advanced  years, 
living  quietly  on  Staten  Island,  New  York  Bay.  One  of 
his  daughters  had  married  George  William  Curtis,  the  dis- 
tinguished author,  editor  and  orator,  and  another  into  the 
family  of  James  Russell  Lowell,  the  poet  and  United 
States  Minister  to  England.  Mr.  Shaw  was  best  known 
in  some  circles  for  the  substantial  nature  of  his  benevolent 
works.    George  wrote  to  Taylor  about  him  (September  7)  : 

"The  book  they  tell  me  has  been  selling  splendidly. 
One  item  is  that  Francis  G.  Shaw  ordered  one  thousand 
copies  to  place  in  the  libraries  throughout  the  country. 
I  saw  him  to-day  He  is  the  father  of  the  Colonel  Shaw 
■  who  was  killed  leading  coloured  troops  in  the  war  and 
was  'buried  with  his  niggers.'^  He  says  he  had  become 
hopeless  on  social  questions  till  sixty  days  ago  he  got  my 
book.  'The  light  broke  upon  him,'  and  he  wants  to 
spread  it. 

"You,  better  than  any  one  else,  can  understand  how 
this  gratifies  me.  He  did  not  want  to  be  known;  but 
I  told  him  it  was  the  highest  compliment  and  best  ad- 
vertisement of  the  book,  and  the  knowledge  of  it  would 
spread  as  many  copies  as  the  donation. 

"I  see  too,  by  the  English  papers  that  Alfred  Eussell 
Wallace    has    been    indorsing    'Progress    and    Poverty' 

1  The  Colonel  Shaw  to  whom  the  splendid  bronze  memorial 
has  been  raised  in  Boston,  Mass. 


354  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [  I88O-I88I 

which  lie  says  'is  undoubtedly  the  most  remarkable  and 
important  work  of  the  present  century,' 
"So  the  seed  has  begun  to  sprout." 

Following  hard  upon  the  Shaw  matter  came  what  Mr. 
George  considered  of  even  greater  importance.  To  Taylor 
(September  12)  he  said: 

"I  have  concluded  an  arrangement  with  the  'Irish 
World,'  by  which  I  shall  go  to  Ireland  and  England 
in  about  two  weeks.  I  will  take  my  wife  and  two  daugh- 
ters with  me,  leaving  the  boys  here  in  New  York.  The 
engagement  is  for  three  months,  but  of  course,  when 
I  get  over  there  I  may  stay  longer.  My  terms  with 
the  'World'  are  very  good,  considering  how  much  I  want 
to  make  the  trip.  I  am  to  get  passage  both  ways  for 
myself  and  family  and  $60  per  week.  Thus  the  chance 
I  have  long  waited  for  opens.  It  ^^dll  be  a  big  thing 
for  me.     I  think  the  biggest  I  have  had  yet." 

A  crisis  had  now  come  in  Irish  affairs.  The  Conserva- 
tive Government  going  out,  had  left  the  legacy  of  the 
agrarian  trouble  in  Ireland  for  the  incoming  Liberal  Gov- 
ernment, headed  by  Gladstone,  to  cope  with.  Lord  Cow- 
per  was  the  new  Irish  Viceroy,  and  William  E.  Forster, 
who  had  done  so  much  for  popular  education  in  England 
by  the  extension  of  the  board  schools,  became  the  Chief 
Secretary.  The  Irish  landlords  went  clamouring  to  them 
about  the  difficulty  of  getting  rents  from  old  tenants  and 
the  intimidation  of,  and  in  some  instances  violence  to,  new 
tenants,  through  the  workings  of  the  Land  League.  Fors- 
ter and  Cowper  had  both  sought  to  secure  some  legal  relief 
for  tenants;  but  both  urged  the  passage  of  coercive  mea- 
sures to  repress  the  violence  of  injured  tenants.  The 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  suspended;  and  hundreds  of 
men,  known  or  "suspected"  to  be  connected  with  the  popu- 


Age,  41^2]  "IRISH  WORLD"  PROPOSAL  355 

lar  movement,  were  imprisoned  without  trial.  Davitt  had 
some  time  before  been  arrested  and  sent  back  to  Portland 
prison  on  the  ground  of  violation  of  the  conditions  of  his 
tieket-of -leave.  And  now  the  arrest  of  Parnell  was  threat- 
ened. 

The  proposal  for  correspondence  with  the  "Irish  World/' 
had  come  to  Mr.  George,  but  he  had  been  unable  to  accept 
until  Mr.  Shaw,  seeing  in  this  an  opportunity  to  help  the 
new  cause  in  which  he  had  enlisted,  put  at  his  disposal  a 
little  money  that  enabled  him  to  meet  some  small  obli- 
gations and  make  the  start.  But  he  was  delayed  until 
the  middle  of  October  and  meanwhile  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Shaw  (October  9)  : 

"  'Truth'  to-day  commences  the  republication  of  'Prog- 
ress and  Poverty.'  I  am  very  glad  of  this.  From  all  I 
hear  its  circulation  is  between  75,000  and  100,000. 
This  gives  an  enormous  audience,  and  largely  of  a  kind 
that  cannot  be  reached  in  any  other  way. 

"One  of  the  firm  of  Kegan  Paul  &  Co.,  the  London 
publishers  of  'Progress  and  Poverty,'  was  in  Appleton's 
yesterday.  He  says  the  book  at  first  was  dead  as  a  log; 
but  has  now  picked  up  and  is  selling  rapidly.  He  an- 
ticipates a  very  large  sale." 

"Truth"  was  a  New  York,  one  cent,  poor  man's  daily 
paper.  Its  chief  editorial  writer  was  Louis  F.  Post,  a 
young  man  bred  to  the  bar  and  possessing  an  extremely 
fair  and  open  mind.  He  had  skimmed  "Progress  and 
Poverty,"  formed  hasty  and  loose  opinions  and  written 
flippantly  about  it;  but  returning  to  a  closer  examination, 
he  had  gradually  changed  his  views,  until  the  book  whis- 
pered to  him,  "Leave  thy  nets  and  follow  me,"  and  he 
obeyed.  Tlienceforward  Henry  George  had  no  more  de- 
voted friend  or  thorough  and  stanch  disciple.  The  au- 
thor was  asked  to  permit  "Truth"  to  republish  the  book 


356  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1880-1881 

serially.  Though  compensation  was  not  offered,  he  con- 
sented, glad  in  this  way  to  "spread  the  light"  among 
working  men.^ 

But  a  matter  of  domestic  consideration  engaged  Mr. 
George's  mind  before  setting  off.  His  two  sons  were  to 
stay  behind;  the  problem  was  how  to  employ  them  during 
the  separation.  The  younger  one,  Dick,  it  was  settled 
was  to  return  to  school,  and  with  the  elder,  Harry,  the 
question  was  whether  he  should  be  put  in  a  newspaper 
office  or  be  sent  to  Harvard  College,  where  special  con- 
siderations at  the  time  had  let  down  the  bars  to  poor 
men's  sons.  In  talking  the  matter  over  with  the  boy  the 
father  weighed  it  in  this  way:  "Going  to  college,  you  will 
make  life  friendships,  but  you  will  come  out  filled  with 
much  that  will  have  to  be  unlearned.  Going  to  newspaper 
work,  you  will  come  in  touch  with  the  practical  world, 
will  be  getting  a  profession  and  learning  to  make  yourself 
useful."  So  the  decision  was  for  newspaper  work.  An 
opening  was  made  on  the  "Brooklyn  Eagle"  by  Andrew 
McLean,  and  the  boy  was  put  to  the  first  small  reporting. 
To  assist  him  in  learning  to  write,  the  father  gave  his  son 
four  rules :  First,  to  make  short  sentences ;  second,  to  avoid 
adjectives;  third,  to  use  small  words;  and  fourth — a  gen- 
eral rule — not  to  attempt  "fine"  writing;  to  say  as  simply 
and  as  briefly  as  possible  all  that  should  be  said,  and  then 
to  stop. 

Before  sailing  Mr.  George  went  to  Philadelphia  to  bid 
good-bye  to  his  parents,  who  were  now  advanced  in  years. 
He  was  accompanied  by  his  boys  part  of  the  way  and  was 
in  a  meditative  mood,  saying,  as  if  half  to  himself :  "When 
I  had  finished  'Progress  and  Poverty'  I  was  certain  that 


1  Afterwards  the  "Chicago  Express"  followed  "Truth's" 
example  and  printed  the  book  serially. 


Age,  41-42]  SAILS   FOR  EUROPE  357 

I  had  written  a  great  book  and  that  the  time  would  come 
when  the  truth  in  it  would  set  the  world  afire.  But  I 
could  not  feel  confident  of  seeing  in  my  own  lifetime  more 
than  perhaps  a  hundred  persons  who  would  grasp  it  and 
believe  in  it.  Yet  now,  only  two  years  after  its  publi- 
cation, it  is  being  talked  of  all  over  the  world;  and  men 
are  rising  up  everywhere  to  hail  it !" 

All  the  preparations  being  at  length  made,  Henry 
George,  with  his  wife  and  his  two  daughters,  on  Saturday, 
October  15,  1881,  sailed  on  the  steamship  Spain  of  the 
National  line,  for  Liverpool. 


CHAPTER    III. 
THE    IRISH    LAND    LEAGUE    MOVEMENT. 

1881-1883.  AcxE,  42-43. 

TWO  days  before  Mr.  George  sailed  for  Europe  news 
had  come  that  Parnell  and  two  other  Parliamenta- 
rians, John  Dillon  and  J.  J.  O'Kelly,  had  been  sent  to  jail, 
which  swelled  the  list  of  political  prisoners  under  the 
crimes  or  coercion  act  to  something  like  five  hundred. 
While  George  was  on  the  sea,  Patrick  Ford  of  the  "Irish 
World,"  cabled  to  Patrick  Egan,  the  Land  League  treas- 
urer, suggesting  that  the  League  retaliate  with  a  manifesto 
calling  upon  agricultural  tenants  to  pay  no  rent  whatever 
until  the  Government  would  withdraw  the  coercion  act. 
Egan  approved  of  the  idea  and  transmitted  it  to  Parnell 
in  Kilmainham  jail.  The  latter  disliked  to  strike  so  rad- 
ical a  blow  at  the  landlord  interests,  but  nevertheless  he 
yielded  to  the  necessity  of  using  the  only  weapon  left  in 
his  hands.  The  no-rent  manifesto  was  accordingly  sent 
out  in  the  name  of  the  Land  League.  At  that  the  Gov- 
ernment advanced  another  step  and  suppressed  the  League ; 
whereupon  Patrick  Egan  went  to  Paris  to  protect  the  war 
chest,  while  the  women,  headed  by  Miss  Anna  Parnell, 
organised  the  Ladies'  Land  League  to  carry  on  the  field- 
work. 

As  has  been  said,  Mr.  George  sailed  for  Liverpool,  but 

358 


Age,  42-13]  NO-RENT   MANIFESTO  359 

he  changed  his  plans  and  got  off  at  Queenstown  when 
the  ship  put  into  that  Irish  port.  He  hurried  to  Dublin, 
after  stopping  a  few  hours  in  Cork. 

"With  an  area  of  only  32,000  square  miles  and  a  popu- 
lation of  little  more  than  five  millions,"  Mr.  George  said 
at  one  time,  "Ireland  now  required  for  its  government  in 
a  time  of  profound  peace  15,000  military  constables  and 
40,000  picked  troops."  The  regular  army  and  the  Eoyal 
Irish  Constabulary,  the  soldier-police,  he  described  in  a 
few  words  in  his  first  letter  to  the  "Irish  World"  (No- 
vember 3)  : 

"The  police  are  a  stalwart  body  of  men,  clad  in  com- 
fortable, dark-green  uniforms;  the  soldiers  are  the  pick 
of  English  and  Scotch  regiments — strong,  active  men,  in 
the  very  prime  of  life,  wearing  smart,  clean  uniforms. 
.  .  .  Every  now  and  again  you  meet  a  detachment 
marching  down  the  street  with  rifles  on  their  shoulders 
and  blankets  on  their  backs,  on  their  way  to  the  country 
to  guard  somebody's  castle,  or  help  evict  somebody's 
tenants." 


Touching  the  nature  of  the  government,  he  said: 

"It  is  not  merely  a  despotism;  it  is  a  despotism  sus- 
tained by  alien  force,  and  wielded  in  the  interests  of  a 
privileged  class,  who  look  upon  the  great  masses  of  the 
people  as  intended  but  to  be  hewers  of  their  wood  and 
drawers  of  their  water.     .     .     . 

"I  leave  out  of  consideration  for  the  moment  the 
present  extraordinary  condition  of  things  when  constitu- 
tional guarantees  for  personal  liberty  are  utterly  sus- 
pended, and  any  man  in  the  country  may  he  hauled  off 
to  prison  at  the  nod  of  an  irresponsible  dictator.  I 
speak  of  tbe  normal  times  and  the  ordinary  workings 
of  government." 


360  LIFE   OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

But,  wrote  Mr.  George,  "the  peoj)le  have  become  accus- 
tomed to  act  together"  in  wielding  the  weapon  of  passive 
resistance.  It  is  from  his  private  letters  to  Patrick  Ford 
that  we  get  the  clearest  and  most  intimate  view  of  some 
phases  of  the  movement.  For  instance,  on  November  10 
he  wrote : 

"...  The  truth  is  that  I  landed  here  at  a  most 
unfortunate  time  for  my  purpose,  and  have  found  more 
difficulty  in  'getting  my  feet  down"  than  I  could  have 
imagined  would  be  possible.     .     .     . 

"The  first  intimation  I  got  was  on  the  tender  [in 
Cork  Harl)our]  when  the  agent  who  had  the  passenger 
list  from  the  steamer,  called  me  aside  and  asked  if  I 
was  Henry  George,  and  telling  me  he  was  a  Land 
Leaguer,  told  me  I  was  expected.  He  wanted  to  change 
my  name  [on  our  trunks]  telling  me  I  should  cer- 
tainly be  dogged  from  the  moment  I  landed  and  possibly 
be  arrested.  I,  of  course,  refused  any  such  kindness, 
telling  him  that  I  did  not  propose  to  disguise  myself 
and  tliat  the  whole  detective  force  was  welcome  to  listen 
to  all  I  had  to  say. 

"  .  .  .  As  I  said  before,  it  seems  hard  for  a 
stranger  to  get  to  the  bottom,  and  things  change.  But 
one  impression  has  not  changed.  I  got  indignant  as 
soon  as  I  landed,  and  I  have  not  got  over  it  yet.  This 
is  the  most  damnable  government  that  exists  to-day  out 
of  Eussia — Miss  Helen  Taylor  [step-daughter  of  John 
Stuart  Mill]  says,  'outside  of  Turkey.' 

"...  As  to  the  clergy:  Croke  struck  a  harder 
blow  than  Gladstone.  It  was  as  Dr.  Nultv  said  to  me, 
'Et  tiL  Brute :^ 

"If  I  had  told  you  what  the  general  statement  of  the 
men  I  met  at  first  was,  it  would  have  been  that  the 
clergy  were  the  greatest  force  the  Land  League  had  to 
meet.  It  is  really  better  than  that.  The  majority  of 
the  clergy  are,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  with  the  people 

1  Archbishop  Croke  became  radical  later  and  gave  encour- 
agement to  the  popular  cause. 


Age,  42-43]  FIRST  VIEWS  OF  IRELAND  361 

and  the  no-rent  fight^  but  they  are  for  the  most  part 
'bull-dozed'  and  the  others  are  most  active.     .     .     . 

"Miss  Helen  Taylor  came  [to  Dublin]  last  week  to 
projDose  that  she  should  .  .  .  take  charge,  letting 
Miss  Parnell  go  to  Holyhead  and  direct  from  there. 
Her  idea  was  that  as  soon  as  the  Govermnent  found 
that  the  Ladies'  League  was  really  doing  elfective  work 
in  keeping  up  the  spirit  of  the  people  they  would  swoop 
down  on  the  women,  too,  and  that  it  would  hurt  the 
Government  more  to  arrest  her  [an  English  woman] 
in  Ireland  than  it  would  to  arrest  an  Irish  woman,  and 
would  hurt  them  much  more  to  arrest  Miss  Parnell  in 
England  than  it  would  to  arrest  her  in  Ireland.  (Miss 
Taylor,  who  is  one  of  the  most  intelligent  women  I 
ever  met,  if  not  the  most  intelligent,  says  the  existence 
of  the  Gladstone  Government  is  involved ;  that  they  will 
stop  at  nothing,  rather  than  lose  power.)  .  .  .  Miss 
Parnell's  objection  was  that  she  could  not  be  spared. 

"...  I  am  certain  that  everything  is  working 
together  to  the  end  we  both  desire — the  radicalisation  of 
the  movement  and  the  people.     .     .     . 

"Bishop  Nulty  told  me  that  the  English  Catholics 
and  the  Irish  Catholic  land-o\^Tiers  had  been  deluging 
Eome  with  complaints.  But,  he  said,  the  Pope  is  a  man 
of  strong  common  sense,  and  had  refused  so  far  to  in- 
terfere." 


Mr.  George  had  not  been  long  in  Dublin  before  four 
committees  waited  on  him  to  ask  him  to  deliver  a  public 
speech.  Edward  Dwyer  Gray,  proprietor  of  the  "Free- 
man's Journal,"  advised  him  to  speak  in  England  first, 
as  that  would  give  him  more  influence;  but  writing  Ford 
on  the  matter  (November  10),  George  said:  "My  sympa- 
thies go  so  strongly  with  this  people  that  it  would  seem 
to  me  cowardly  to  refuse  anything  that  might  encourage 
them;  and  besides  at  this  time  it  is  extremely  important 
to  get  them  into  line.  ...  I  will  not  talk  politics; 
but  I  will  not  stint  the  truth."     Mr.  George  had  not  yet 


362  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

come  to  his  full  powers  as  a  speaker  and  his  wife  wrote  to 
their  sons  (ISTovemher  10)  that  she  was  very  anxious  ahout 
the  lecture.  "I  earnestly  hope  it  will  be  a  success,"  said 
she,  "but  somehow  I  think  he  will  suit  an  English  audience 
better,  as  he  is  unimpassioned  like  them,  and  not  demon- 
strative like  Irishmen."  Mr.  George  spoke  on  the  14th. 
The  result  satisfied  him,  as  he  wrote  to  Ford  (Novem- 
ber 15)  : 

*'My  lecture  last  night  was  a  grand  success,  and  I 
had  the  hardest  work  possible  to  avoid  being  dragged 
through  the  streets.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  only  chance 
the  Dublin  people  had  had  since  the  suppression  of  the 
Land  League  to  show  their  enthusiasm." 

The  demonstration  after  the  lecture  to  which  Mr.  George 
alludes  was  a  custom  with  which  he  became  abruptly  ac- 
quainted when  a  crowd  surged  about  his  carriage  and 
attempted  to  unhitch  the  horse,  with  the  intention  of 
themselves  drawing  the  vehicle.  He  got  almost  indignant. 
He  ordered  the  driver  to  whip  up  and  gave  him  a  liberal 
fee  when  he  cleared  the  crowd.  When  addressing  another 
Dublin  audience  some  months  afterwards  Mr.  George  re- 
ferred to  the  incident.  He  said  the  custom  was  undemo- 
cratic and  savoured  too  much  of  the  subservience  to  which 
through  the  long  generations  they  had  been  habituated  in 
giving  rent  and  thanks  for  the  privilege  of  living  on  the 
common  soil.  The  audience  applauded  to  the  echo.  The 
people  were  ready  to  hear  plain  speech  and  to  embrace 
new  ideas.  A  few  days  after  the  Dublin  lecture  (January 
1,  1883)  George  wrote  to  Taylor:  "The  majority  of  the 
Irish  don't  know  yet  how  to  get  at  what  they  want.  Like 
all  great  movements,  it  is  a  blind  groping  forward.  But 
it  is  the  beginning  of  the  revolution,  sure." 

Bishop  ISTulty  had  been  made  to  feel  the  displeasure  of 


Age,  43^3]  REV.  DR.  THOMAS  NULTY  363 

the  higher  Catholic  authorities  for  his  by  this  time  famous 
pastoral  letter  declaring  common  rights  in  land,  and  was 
probably  secretly  reproved  for  an  interview  with  him  which 
Mr.  George  had  published  in  the  "Irish  World,"  and  which 
in  garbled  form  was  cabled  back  to  a  London  paper.  Fol- 
lowing this  George  wrote  to  Ford  (December  28)  : 

"I  presume  we  have  at  last  got  Dr.  Nulty  into  the 
trouble  he  has  been  so  anxious  to  avoid.  One  of  the 
reasons  I  went  to  Mullingar  was  to  sound  him  about 
the  publication  of  his  platform  [from  the  pastoral  let- 
ter].^ I  believe  I  told  you  that  I  got  the  Ladies  [Land 
League]  to  order  a  lot  printed  just  as  it  appeared  in 
the  'Irish  World.'  Alfred  Webb,  who  was  printing 
them,  suggested  to  me  that  perhaps  the  Doctor  would 
not  like  it,  and  that  he  was  doing  such  good  work  that 
we  ought  to  be  very  careful  not  to  embarrass  him. 

"So  I  did  not  ask  his  permission,  for  I  did  not  want 

1  This  passage  from  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Nulty's  pastoral  letter  to 
the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Meath,  ran  : 

' '  The  land  of  every  country  is  the  gift  of  its  Creator  to  the  people  of 
that  country  ;  it  is  the  patrimony  and  inheritance  bequeathed  to  them  by 
their  common  Father,  out  of  which  they  can,  by  continuous  labour  and 
toil,  provide  themselves  with  everything  they  require  for  their  main- 
tenance and  support,  for  their  material  comfort  and  enjoyment.  God  was 
perfectly  free  in  the  act  by  which  He  created  us  ;  but,  having  created  us, 
He  bound  himself  by  that  act  to  provide  us  with  the  means  necessary  for 
our  subsistence.  The  land  is  the  only  means  of  this  kind  now  known 
to  us. 

"The  land,  therefore,  of  every  country  is  the  common  property  of  the 
people  of  that  country,  because  its  real  owner,  the  Creator  who  made  it, 
has  transferred  it  as  a  voluntary  gift  to  them.  Terrain  autem  dedit 
filiis  hominum.  Now,  as  every  individual  in  that  country  is  a  creature 
and  child  of  God,  and  as  all  His  creatures  are  equal  in  His  sight,  any 
settlement  of  the  land  of  a  country  that  would  exclude  the  humblest  man 
in  that  country  from  his  share  in  the  common  inheritance  would  be  not 
only  an  injustice  and  a  wrong  to  that  man,  but,  moreover,  would  be  an 
impious  resistance  to  the  benevolent  intentions  of  his  Creator." 


364  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

to  commit  him.  I  merely  told  him  it  was  being  done, 
and  he  made  no  objection. 

"Well,  the  thing  is  beginning  to  tell.  It  is  going  all 
over  the  country  and  some  of  the  priests  are  distributing 
it,  and  it  is  getting  pasted  up,  and  the  Tory  papers  and 
all  the  English  papers  are  reprinting  it  as  an  outra- 
geous official  declaration  of  communism  from  a  Catho- 
lic bishop;  and  from  all  I  have  heard  of  their  temper, 
I  shall  be  surprised  if  the  English  prelates  don't  try  to 
raise  a  row  at  Rome  about  it. 

"But  it  is  going  to  do  an  immense  amount  of  good." 

In  the  same  letter  George  made  some  comments  from 
his  inside  point  of  view  upon  persons  in  the  movement 
and  its  management. 

"There  is  a  great  amount  of  'whigging'  in  this  Land 
League  movement,  more  than  I  thought  before  coming 
here.  And  I  think  this  is  especially  true  of  the  leaders. 
With  very  many  of  those  for  whom  it  is  doing  the  most, 
the  'Irish  World'  is  anything  bat  popular.  And  I  have 
felt  from  the  beginning  as  if  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
that  feeling  about  myself.  We  are  regarded  as  dan- 
gerous allies.  I  have,  of  course,  never  pretended  to  see 
or  notice  this,  though  I  have  had  some  curiosity  about 
it,  as  to  how  much  was  due  to  conservatism  and  how 
much  to  influences  from  America.  But  come  what  may, 
this  movement  is  going  to  assume  a  much  more  radical 
phase.     In  spite  of  everything,  the  light  is  spreading." 

Mr.  George  then  related  how  when  "United  Ireland," 
the  official  league  organ,  was  seized,  the  plates  of  the  num- 
ber just  to  be  issued  were  got  off  to  his  lodgings  and  hid- 
den under  his  bed,  whence  they  were  sent  in  a  trunk  to 
London,  where  the  League  managers,  instead  of  putting 
them  to  press  at  once,  lost  several  days  and  much  money 
in  negotiating  about  the  matter.  Ultimately  "one  paper 
was  got  out  in  London,  and  another  totally  different  in 


Age,  42^3]  PARNELL  AND   DAVITT  365 

Dublin,  and  an  edition  from  the  Dublin  plates  worked  ofE 
in  Liverpool.''  He  observed  to  Ford  in  a  letter  from 
London : 

"Some  of  them  told  me  that  this  was  splendid,  as 
showing  the  Government  that  when  one  paper  was  sup- 
pressed three  would  spring  up;  but  I  told  them  that  in 
my  opinion  the  Government  would  laugh  at  such  work 
and  see  how  easy  it  was  to  make  them  spend  their  re- 
sources. 

"...  To  sum  up :  It  appears  to  me  that  there 
is  in  many  things  a  lack  of  management,  and  conse- 
quently, waste  both  of  opportunities  and  resources. 

"Sometimes  it  seems  to  me  as  if  a  lot  of  small  men 
had  found  themselves  in  the  lead  of  a  tremendous  move- 
ment, and  finding  themselves  lifted  into  importance  and 
power  they  never  dreamed  of,  are  jealous  of  anybody 
else  sharing  the  honour. 

"I  do  not  refer  to  Parnell,  who,  I  think  from  all  I 
hear  of  him,  is  a  first-class  man,  though  he  lacks  quali- 
ties and  powers  in  which  Davitt  is  strong. 

"I  wish  I  had  got  here  before  the  suppression,  that  I 
might  have  seen  the  thing  in  free  play. 

"Miss  Parnell,  from  all  I  learn,  is  really  an  extraor- 
dinary executive  and  organiser,  and  the  Ladies  are  and 
have  been  doing  their  work  wonderfully  well,  consider- 
ing all  the  difficulties.     .     . 

"Miss  Taylor  urged  me  not  to  return  to  Ireland,  say- 
ing that  I  was  greatly  needed,  and  that  the  Government 
will  certainly  arrest  me  before  long.  But  while  I  won't 
put  myself  in  the  way  of  that,  I  don't  feel  like  turn- 
ing aside  for  fear  of  it.  My  s^Tiipathies  are  so  strongly 
with  this  fight  against  such  tremendous  odds  of  every 
kind  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  not  to  feel  myself 
in  it." 


It  was  at  this  time,  when  Mr.  George  was  in  London 
and  his  wife  and  daughters  in  Dublin,  that  Miss  Parnell 
got  word  from  a  confidential  source  inside  Dublin  Castle 


366  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1881-1882 

that  the  Ladies'  Land  League  was  to  be  proscribed;  that 
she  and  her  able  assistant,  Miss  Nannie  Lynch,  were  to 
be  arrested  at  once;  and  that  one  of  the  Dublin  jails  was 
actually  being  cleared  out  for  the  reception  of  the  women. 
These  two  ladies  needed  no  further  hint;  they  immedi- 
ately sped  for  London,  Miss  Lynch  sending  her  official 
books  to  Mrs.  George  for  safekeeping.  The  remaining 
ladies  invited  Mrs.  George  to  preside  that  day  over  the 
regular  business  meeting  of  the  Ladies'  League.  She 
never  before  had  attempted  to  preside  at  any  kind  of  a 
meeting  and  her  embarrassment  was  heightened  by  the 
presence  of  men,  whom  she  afterwards  was  told  were  Gov- 
ernment detectives,  and  a  number  of  reporters  and  corre- 
spondents. But  the  women  triumphed.  The  absence  of 
Miss  Parnell  and  the  appearance  of  an  American  woman 
in  the  chair  completely  nonplussed  the  Dublin  Government 
officials  and  the  Ladies'  Land  League  escaped  proscription. 
Mr.  George's  post  of  special  correspondent  of  the  "Irish 
World,"  the  mouthpiece,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Land  League 
in  America,  the  chief  source  of  the  "sinews  of  war,"  gave 
him  an  introduction  to  all  the  prominent  men  in  the 
Irish  movement,  from  Parnell  in  Kilmainham  jail  to  Jus- 
tin McCarthy  in  London  and  Patrick  Egan  in  Paris,  while 
his  reputation  as  the  author  of  "Progress  and  Poverty" 
and  of  "The  Irish  Land  Question"  gave  him  a  standing 
outside  political  circles.  He  therefore  had  little  difficulty 
in  making  acquaintances.  But  he  quickly  discovered  that 
the  members  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  party,  while  cor- 
dial enough  at  dinner  parties  and  on  other  social  occa- 
sions, and  polished  and  polite  under  all  circumstances, 
were  always  guarded  in  speaking  with  him  on  the  affairs 
of  the  movement,  and  many  of  them  absolutely  uncom- 
municative. As  time  passed  on  this  condition  of  aloof- 
ness srrew. 


Age,  42-43]  MISS  HELEN  TAYLOR  367 

Aside  from  these  formal  acquaintances,  Mr.  George 
while  in  Dublin  formed  some  friendships  of  a  deep  and 
lasting  kind.  One  of  these  was  that  of  Dr.  James  E. 
Kelly,  who,  upon  the  American's  arrival  in  the  city  in  the 
period  of  national  despondence  consequent  upon  the  arrest 
of  the  leaders,  was  one  of  the  first  persons  to  welcome 
him  to  Ireland.  Dr.  Kelly  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy 
with  and  made  many  sacrifices  for  the  popular  cause. 
During  the  Georges'  stay  in  Dublin  he  frequently  enter- 
tained them  at  his  house  and  almost  daily  saw  and  talked 
with  Mr.  George  on  social  or  political  matters,  or  on  ques- 
tions of  philosophy. 

Another  warm  Irish  attachment  formed  at  this  time  was 
with  Eev.  Thomas  Dawson  of  the  Catholic  order  of  the 
Oblate  Fathers,  who  then  lived  at  Glencree.  He  had  read 
"Progress  and  Poverty  "  and  had  become  imbued  with  its 
spirit  and  with  the  belief  that  no  matter  what  its  author 
called  himself,  the  final  chapter  of  the  book  proved  him 
to  be  essentially  a  Catholic.  It  was  to  Father  Dawson 
that  Mr.  George  subsequently  wrote  the  letter  touching  his 
religious  faith  which  has  already  been  quoted.^ 

As  we  have  seen.  Miss  Helen  Taylor  was  another  of  the 
important  acquaintances  made  in  Dublin.  i\.cquaintance 
strengthened  into  warm  friendship,  and  when  the  Georges 
went  to  London  in  January  they  accepted  her  hearty  invi- 
tation to  share  her  hospitality  at  South  Kensington.  She 
possessed  sufficient  means  to  make  her  independent,  and 
for  years  had  been  doing  all  in  her  power,  with  voice,  pen 
and  purse,  to  advance  public  ideas  along  the  lines  taught 
by  her  famous  step-father,  John  Stuart  Mill.  She  be- 
lieved that  were  Mr.  Mill  alive  he  would  have  been  heart 
and  soul  with  the  Irish  in  their  struggle  and  would  have 

iPa^es  311-312. 


368  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

been  among  the  first  to  greet  "Progress  and  Poverty"  as 
containing  the  truth,  notwithstanding  its  contradiction  of 
much  that  he  had  previously  taught. 

After  spending  several  weeks  with  Miss  Taylor,  the 
Georges  visited  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  M.  Hyndman  in 
Portland  Place,  and  afterwards  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas 
Briggs  at  Dulwich.  Mr.  Hyndman  had  long  been  one  of 
the  leading  writers  on  the  London  press,  but  a  too  active 
sympathy  with  the  Irish  movement  had  caused  him  to  be 
"boycotted."'  An  intense  socialist,  he  was  president  of 
the  Democratic  Federation,  which  propagated  those  doc- 
trines in  England.  For  a  time  he  seemed  hopeful  of  con- 
verting Mr.  George  to  his  views,  while  the  American 
thought  socialism  in  his  friend  was  weakening.  Hynd- 
man had  found  at  the  British  Museum  a  copy  of  a  lecture 
by  Thomas  Spence  on  "The  Real  Rights  of  Man,"  deliv- 
ered before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Newcastle,  No- 
vember 8,  1775,  a  year  before  the  publication  of  Smith's 
"Wealth  of  oSTations,"  and  for  which  the  Society,  as 
Spence  said,  did  him  "the  honour  to  expel  him."  In  the 
lecture  Spence  proclaimed  common  rights  in  land  and 
proposed  that  land  values  be  taken  for  public  purposes, 
all  other  taxes  to  be  remitted.  George  had  never  heard 
of  Spence  and  was  delighted  at  the  discovery.  He  urged 
Hyndman  to  publish  the  lecture  in  tract  form,  believing 
that  it  would  do  much  good.  Mrs.  George  suggested  that 
this  might  prove  disadvantageous  to  Mr.  George,  for  peo- 
ple might  say  that  if  the  idea  of  taxing  land  values  had 
been  proposed  a  hundred  years  before  and  had  since  been 
ignored  by  the  world,  there  was  little  use  of  George  in 
his  "Progress  and  Poverty"  trying  to  popularise  the  prin- 
ciple now.  Her  husband  answered  that  most  people  hesi- 
tate to  accept  an  idea  thought  to  be  new;  that  if  the  pro- 
posal in  "Progress  and  Poverty"  could  be  shown  to  be 


Age,  42-43]  MEETS  HERBERT   SPENCER  369 

really  an  old  one,  it  might  make  much  more  rapid  way. 
And  so  he  urged  Hyndman  to  publish  the  lecture,  which 
the  latter  did;  while  George  himself  sent  a  copy  to  Pat- 
rick Ford  for  publication  in  the  "Irish  World." 

It  was  while  they  were  guests  of  the  Hyndmans  that 
Mr.  George  met  Herbert  Spencer.  Through  the  Hynd- 
mans, Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  were  invited  to  a  reception 
at  Mrs.  (since  Lady)  Jeune's.  It  was  a  "London  crush," 
the  drawing-rooms  thronged  and  many  notables  present, 
among  them,  Tennyson,  tall,  careless  and  dreamy — in 
appearance  every  inch  a  poet ;  and  Browning,  on  this  occa- 
sion at  least,  smart  and  dapper,  and  so  far  from  appear- 
ing a  great  poet,  looked,  as  Mrs.  George  said,  "like  a  pros- 
perous merchant  draper."  Mr.  George  admired  both  of 
these  men,  but  was  introduced  to  neither.  He  met  Spen- 
cer, however,  as  soon  as  the  latter  appeared.  This  gave 
him  real  pleasure.  He  had  been  hearing  stories  of  vanity 
in  the  English  philosopher  that  he  could  scarcely  credit, 
as  he  put  him  on  a  high  plane,  not  because  of  the  evo- 
lutionary philosophy,  for  it  was  that  to  which  George 
referred  when,  in  writing  to  Charles  Nordhoff  before  leav- 
ing San  Francisco,  in  1879,^  he  said  he  would  like  some- 
time to  write  a  book  dissecting  "this  materialistic  philoso- 
phy, which,  with  its  false  assumption  of  science,  passes 
current  with  so  many."  But  he  had  all  along  held  Spen- 
cer as  immovably  against  the  institution  of  private  prop- 
erty in  land,  and  had  in  "Progress  and  Poverty"  quoted 
from  the  English  philosopher's  scathing  ninth  chapter  of 
*^Social  Statics."  He,  therefore,  expected  to  find  a  man 
who,  like  himself,  saw  in  the  agrarian  struggle  in  Ireland 
the  raising  of  the  question  of  land  ownership  and  funda- 
mental economic  principles.     Their  conversation  quickly 

1  Page  328. 


370  LD'E  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

turned  to  Ireland,  for  scarcely  had  they  exchanged  civili- 
ties when  Spencer  bluntly  asked  what  George  thought 
of  Irish  matters.  The  American  condemned  the  Govern- 
ment and  praised  the  League.  Spencer  burst  into  vehe- 
ment dissent.  "They/'  said  he,  meaning  the  imprisoned 
Land  Leaguers,  "have  got  only  what  they  deserve.  They 
are  inciting  the  people  to  refuse  to  pay  to  their  landlords 
what  is  rightfully  theirs — rent."  This  speech  and  the 
manner  of  its  delivery  so  differed  from  what  was  expected 
of  the  man  who  in  "Social  Statics"  wrote,  "equity  does 
not  permit  property  in  land,"  that  Mr.  George  was  first 
astonished  and  then  disgusted  at  this  flat  denial  of  prin- 
ciple. "It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  agree  on  this  mat- 
ter," was  all  that  he  could  say,  and  he  abruptly  left  Mr. 
Spencer.  The  meeting  had  proved  a  deep  disappointment. 
Mr.  George  seldom  outside  the  family  circle  spoke  of  it, 
but  to  Dr.  Taylor  he  wrote  soon  after  the  occurrence 
(March,  1882)  :  "Discount  Herbert  Spencer.  He  is  most 
horribly  conceited,  and  I  don't  believe  really  great  men 
are." 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  Wren 
entertained  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  at  dinner.  To  put  Mrs. 
George  at  her  ease,  Mr.  Wren,  in  the  iimerican  fashion, 
presented  the  other  guests  to  her,  among  them  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Walter  Besant.  But  Mr.  George  was  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  inconvenience  of  the  English  custom  of 
not  introducing.  For  after  the  dinner  Mrs.  George  asked 
her  husband  how  he  liked  Besant.  He  said  he  did  not 
know.  "Why,  you  were  apparently  on  good  terms  with 
him?"  "Good  heavens!"  he  exclaimed.  "Have  I  been 
talking  with  Walter  Besant  all  evening  without  knowing 
him?" 

A  little  while  after  this  came  a  meeting  with  John 
Bright  and  Joseph  Chamberlain,  who  were  members  of 


Age,  42^3]  BEIGHT  AND  CHAMBERLAIN  371 

the  Gladstone  Cabinet.     To  Ford,  George  wrote  privately 
(April  22)  : 

"I  dined  with  Walter  Wren  at  the  Reform  Club  last 
night  and  he  had  John  Bright  and  Joseph  Chamberlain 
there  to  meet  me.  We  started  in  on  Irish  affairs  with 
the  soup,  for  Bright  asked  me  point  blank  what  I 
thought  of  what  I  had  seen  in  Ireland,  and  I  had  to 
tell  him,  though  it  was  not  very  flattering.  We  kept  it 
up  to  half  past  ten,  when  Mr.  Bright  had  to  go  down 
to  the  House,  having  left  his  daughter  in  the  gallery, 
but  Chamberlain  remained  until  nearly  twelve. 

"Bright  has  got  to  the  end  of  his  tether,  and  will 
never  get  past  where  he  is  now;  but  Chamberlain  is  an 
extremely  bright  man,  and  his  conversation,  which  was 
unreserved,  was  extremely  interesting  to  me,  and  would 
make  a  most  interesting  letter  if  I  could  use  it,  which 
of  course  I  cannot.     .     .     . 

"Chamberlain  has  evidently  been  reading  the  'Irish 
World,'  for  he  alluded  to  some  things  in  my  letters,  and 
he  told  me  laughingly  to  look  out  when  I  went  back  to 
Ireland  that  I  did  not  get  reasonably  '^suspected.' 

"I  told  him  that  I  wanted  to  see  Michael  Davitt ;  that 
Harcourt  had  refused  me;  and  asked  him  if  he  could 
help  me.  He  said  he  could  not,  as  the  Home  Secretary 
would  be  jealous  of  any  interference  by  him;  but  he 
added  that  he  thought  I  should  be  able  to  see  Davitt 
before  I  went  home,  which  I  took  to  mean  that  Davitt 
would  be  released  before  long.  This  I  sincerely  hope, 
for  he  is  badly  needed  in  Ireland. 

"Of  course  meeting  a  Cabinet  Minister  in  that  way  I 
could  not  catechise  him  about  what  the  Government  in- 
tended; but  I  gathered  from  what  he  said  that  he  at 
least  was  in  favour  of  going  further  with  the  land-bill 
and  relieving  the  rigours  of  coercion,  which  I  take  it. 
at  least  in  the  line  of  the  suspect  business,  will  be  the 
policy  of  the  Government.     .     . 

"Kegan  Paul  told  me  this  morning  that  he  met  Jus- 
tin McCarthy  at  dinner  last  night,  and  that  he  told  him 
that  the  Irish  members  were  getting  frightened  at  the 


372  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

length  to  which  the  movement  was  going,  and  were  dis- 
posed to  unite  with  the  Government  on  fixing  up  the 
land  bill.  I  only  tell  you  this  sort  of  stuff  for  what 
it  is  worth,  but  my  notion  is  that  there  will  be  some 
sort  of  joint  attempt  all  around  to  settle  the  Irish  land 
question,  and — that  it  won  t  settle !     .     .     ." 

Justin  McCarthy's  reported  utterance  and  Chamber- 
lain's reference  to  the  probable  future  policy  of  the  Gov- 
ernment were  of  a  piece.  Although  the  "no-rent"  move- 
ment was  as  strong  as  ever,  if  not  stronger,  Parnell  and 
some  of  his  immediate  associates  had  had  enough.  As- 
serting for  an  excuse  that  the  no-rent  movement  had 
failed,  they  had  run  up  the  white  flag.  Through  Captain 
O'Shea  and  others,  Parnell  had  entered  into  a  pact  with 
the  Government,  by  which  he  was  to  "slow  down"  the 
Land  League  agitation,  while  the  Government  was  to  re- 
lease the  suspects  and  extend  the  existing  land  act,  both 
of  which  it  was  glad  enough  to  do.  George  wrote  to 
Ford  (June  6)  :  "Kettle  says  that  O'Kelly,  who  came 
over  to  Ireland  to  get  Parnell  to  make  some  compromise, 
and  got  put  into  prison,  to  the  amusement  of  all  inside, 
gradually  worked  on  his  fears." 

But  there  was  at  the  time  no  public  talk  of  a  dicker  with 
the  enemy  and  no  previous  word  that  there  was  to  be  a 
liberation,  so  that  when  Parnell  and  his  Parliamentary 
associate  prisoners,  Dillon  and  O'Kelly,  walked  forth  from 
Kilmainham  on  May  2  there  was  general  astonishment 
and  rejoicing  over  what  appeared  to  be  the  Irish  leader's 
victory  and  Gladstone's  defeat.  But  at  least  some  of  the 
insiders  suspected,  if  they  did  not  know  of,  the  treaty. 
George  wrote  to  Ford  (June  G)  :  "The  evening  Parnell  was 
let  out,  the  Ladies  [Land  League],  instead  of  rejoicing, 
were  like  mourners  at  a  wake." 

On  the  other  side,  to  liberate  Parnell  or  in  any  way  to 


Age,  42^]  PHCENIX  PAEK  MURDERS  373 

treat  with  the  man  who  had  been  denounced  as  "steeped  in 
treason  to  the  lips"'  was  to  discredit  the  policy  of  the  Vice- 
roy and  the  Chief  Secretary.  So  Cowper  and  Forster 
resigned.  Earl  Spencer  and  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish 
were  appointed  to  the  respective  places,  and  on  May  6 
made  their  official  entry  into  Dublin.  At  seven  o'clock 
that  evening  the  new  Chief  Secretary  and  Mr.  Burke, 
the  Under  Secretary,  were  killed  by  a  band  of  political 
assassins  calling  themselves  "Invincibles." 

Mr.  George  had  hurried  that  day  from  Dublin  to  Lon- 
don to  meet  Michael  Davitt,  who  as  publicly  announced, 
and  evidently  as  a  part  of  the  Government's  more  lenient 
polic}',  was  to  be  released  from  Portland  prison.  In  his 
"Irish  World"  letter  of  May  9,  Mr.  George  said  that  he 
had  been  with  Davitt  until  late  that  night  and  was  to 
meet  him  next  day. 

"We  did  meet,  but  earlier  than  either  he  of  I  ex- 
pected. I  was  awakened  early  in  the  morning  by  a 
telegram  from  a  friend  in  Dublin  [Dr.  James  E.  Kelly], 
telling  me  that  the  new  Chief  Secretary  and  the  Under 
Secretary  had  been  stabbed  to  death  in  Phoenix  Park. 
But  for  the  terms  of  the  despatch  and  the  character 
of  my  friend  I  should  have  thought  the  story  a  wild 
rumour,  for  Dublin  is  a  good  place  for  rumours.  But 
these  left  no  doubt,  and  getting  out  as  soon  as  I  could, 
while  all  London  was  yet  asleep,  I  after  awhile  man- 
aged to  find  a  cabman  dozing  on  his  cab,  and  rousing 
him  with  some  difficiilty,  got  him  to  drive  me  to  the 
Westminster  Palace  hotel.  I  went  at  once  to  Davitt's 
room,  woke  him  up,  and  handed  him  the  despatch  as  he 
lay  in  bed.  'My  God !'  was  his  exclamation,  'have  I 
got  out  of  Portland  for  this !'  And  then  he  added 
mournfully :  'For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  despair. 
It  seems  like  the  curse  that  has  always  followed  Ire- 
land.' 

"I  went  and  woke  Dillon.     He,  though  less  surprised, 


374  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

was  hardly  less  impressed.  It  seems  that  before  they 
went  to  bed  on  Saturday  night,  or  rather  on  Sunday 
morning,  word  was  brought  to  them  of  the  murders  by 
one  of  the  reporters  of  the  'Central  News' ;  but  it  seemed 
so  incredible  that  both  the  Chief  Secretary  and  the 
Under  Secretary  should  be  stabbed  to  death  in  Phoenix 
Park,  that  it  was  at  once  set  down  as  a  hoax.  Davitt, 
his  mind  filled  with  the  vivid  impressions  of  the  first 
hours  of  freedom,  after  fifteen  long  months  of  imprison- 
ment, and  with  friendly  greetings  ringing  in  his  ear, 
had  gone  to  sleep  without  reverting  to  the  report  again ; 
but  Dillon  said  he  had  been  thinking  over  it  all,  and 
that  the  more  he  brooded  over  it  the  more  it  seemed 
'too  strange  not  to  be  true' ;  its  very  improbability  seem- 
ing, as  he  thought  of  it,  proof  that  it  could  not  be 
wholly  invention. 

"After  waking  up  Mr.  Dillon,  I  went  at  his  request 
to  Mr.  O'Kelly's  room  with  the  same  intelligence,  and 
soon  the  only  London  Sunday  paper,  the  'Observer,' 
came  with  the  confirmation  of  print.  Mr.  Dillon  went 
out  to  find  Mr.  Parnell,  who  came  to  the  hotel,  and  after 
a  conference  the  manifesto  to  the  Irish  people  was  writ- 
ten by  Davitt,  and  having  been  submitted  to  the  Par- 
nellite  members,  who  nearly  all  gathered  in  the  hotel 
towards  the  afternoon,  was  signed  by  Parnell  and  Dillon 
as  well  as  Davitt,  sent  out  to  the  papers,  and  telegraphed 
to  Dublin,  where  Alfred  Webb  had  been  holding  his 
printing  office  in  readiness  to  strike  it  off,  and  whence 
prominent  members  of  the  party  had  been  asking  by 
telegraph  for  the  issuance  of  something  of  the  kind." 

The  manifesto  that  Mr.  George  speaks  of  was  addressed 
to  the  Irish  people.  It  denounced  the  crime  as  "cowardly 
and  unprovoked"  and  hoped  that  the  murderers  would 
be  brought  to  justice.  George  said  in  his  "Irish  World" 
letter  of  May  9  that  Parnell's  "first  impulse  was  imme- 
diately to  resign  his  seat,  but  after  consultation  with  other 
members  he  contented  himself  with  sending  a  message  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  ofEering  to  do  this  if  it  would  in  any  way 


Age,  43-43]  DAVITT'S  GREAT   MOMENT  375 

make  the  Premier's  position  easier,  but  received  a  reply 
expressing  a  hope  that  he  would  do  no  such  thing." 

That  Sunday  was  a  day  of  confusion.  Fearing  that 
the  English  would  rise  in  violent  retaliation  against  the 
Irish  residents,  some  counselled  the  Irish  leaders  to  seek 
safety  in  France,  and  this  was  the  sentiment  among  most 
of  the  guests  at  the  dinner  party  at  A.  M.  Sullivan's,  where 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  had  been  invited.  For  when  Mr. 
George  put  the  question  as  to  what  Davitt  should  do,  Mrs. 
George  was  alone  in  sa5dng  that  Davitt  '"should  go  to 
Ireland  by  the  first  train,  and  be  a  leader  to  the  people 
in  this  hour  of  dismay !"  An  exclamation  went  around 
the  table,  and  some  one  said  that  if  Davitt  went  there 
in  the  then  state  of  passionate  feeling  he  would  be  killed 
by  the  Government  supporters.  Mrs.  George  replied: 
"How  could  Michael  Davitt  die  better  than  with  his  peo- 
ple?" Mr.  George  said  little  more  than  that  his  wife's 
words  expressed  his  own  feeling;  but  he  never  forgot 
those  words,  and  he  repeated  them  to  her  fifteen  years 
later  when  his  own  supreme  moment  for  decision  came. 

Contrary  to  expectation,  no  disturbances  anywhere  fol- 
lowed the  news  of  the  Phoenix  Park  murders,  though  the 
Government  was  compelled  by  public  opinion  to  reverse 
its  intended  policy  of  leniency,  and  turned  the  screws  of 
coercion  even  tighter  than  they  had  been  at  the  height  of 
the  no-rent  agitation.  Parnell  inside  the  House  of  Com- 
mons opposed  this;  yet  outside  he  did  all  he  could  to  kill 
the  old  movement.  He  had  no  intention  of  reviving  the 
Land  League  in  any  form.  Indeed,  the  day  that  Davitt 
was  released  from  Portland,  Parnell  had  denounced  the 
Ladies'  Land  League  to  him,  saying  that  it  "must  be  sup- 
pressed"  or  else  he  would  "leave  public  life,"^   and  he 

1  "  Life  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,"  by  R.  Barry  O'Brien,  Vol.  I,  p.  364. 


376  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1881-1882 

actually  did  kill  it  by  refusing  it  money  from  the  general 
fund.  Dillon  thought  that  the  land  agitation  should  be 
carried  on,  and  he  went  to  Parnell  and  asked:  "What  are 
your  intentions?  Do  you  mean  to  carry  on  the  war  or 
to  slow  down  the  agitation?"  "To  slow  down  the  agita- 
tion/' said  Parnell.^  By  October  he  had  succeeded  so 
effectually  with  the  "slowing  down"  that  he  organised  a 
new  league.  It  was  the  old  Irish  National  Land  League 
with  "Land"  left  out.  He  became  president,  and  Home 
Eule  was  made  the  primary  aim.  Nothing  was  heard  of 
the  principle  of  "The  Land  for  the  People,"  with  which 
Michael  Davitt  had  set  Ireland  aflame.  On  the  contrary, 
in  his  first  speech  under  the  new  auspices  Parnell  said  that 
"no  solution  of  the  land  question  can  be  accepted  as  a 
final  one  that  does  not  insure  the  occupying  farmers  the 
right  of  becoming  owners  by  purchase  of  the  holdings 
which  they  now  occupy  as  tenants." 

It  was  the  old  peasant  proprietary  cry — a  proposal  to 
swap  landlords,  and  to  swap  largely  on  the  terms  of  the 
existing  landlords.  All  thought  of  the  agricultural  la- 
bourers and  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Irish  nation  who 
were  too  poor  to  buy  land — all  reference  to  natural,  equal 
rights  to  land,  was  ignored. 

But  the  fact  of  a  Kilmainham  treaty  and  of  the  sur- 
render of  the  movement  by  Parnell  to  the  Gladstone  gov- 
ernment came  out  only  by  degrees.  In  writing  to  the 
"Irish.  World"  George  tried  to  put  the  best  face  on  the 
thing,  refusing  at  first  to  write  what  he  suspected;  but  in 
his  private  letters  to  Ford  he  spoke  without  reserve.  On 
May  17  he  wrote:  "The  whole  situation  is  very  bad  and 
perplexing.  The  Land  League  in  its  present  form  on 
both  sides  of  the  water  seems  to  me  to  be  smashed.     But 

1  "  Life  of  Charles  Stewart  Paruell,"  by  R.  Barry  O'Brien,  Vol.  I,  p.  365. 


Age,  42-43]  TREATY  OF  KILMAINHAM  377 

the  seed  has  been  planted.  .  .  .  We  who  have  seen 
the  light  must  win  because  much  greater  forces  than  our- 
selves are  working  with  us."  Three  days  later  he  wrote, 
"Parnell  seems  to  me  to  have  thrown  away  the  greatest 
opportunity  any  Irishman  ever  had.  It  is  the  birthright 
for  the  mess  of  pottage.". 


CHAPTER    IV. 

STAETING  THE  REVOLUTION"  IN  GREAT 
BRITAIN. 

1882.  Age,  43. 

A  FEW  months  of  immurement  in  Kilmainham  jail, 
even  while  mitigated  by  personal  comforts,  if  not 
luxuries,  and  the  companionship  of  numerous  political 
friends,  had  sufficed  for  Parnell;  and  he  came  out  to  "slow 
down"  the  great  Land  League  movement  that  had  roused 
the  enthusiasm  of  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands  on  two 
continents.  But  neither  the  seven  years  of  hard  j>enal 
servitude  nor  the  year  or  more  of  subsequent  and  lighter 
solitary  incarceration  in  the  English  prison  had  broken 
the  spirit  of  IMichael  Davitt.  He  had  no  thought  of  sur- 
render to  the  Government.  In  a  letter  to  the  "London 
Standard"  he  showed  that  while  he  had  given  up  his  old 
idea  of  the  efficacy  of  physical  force  and  dynamite  to  bring 
reforms,  he  did  not  wish  to  be  a  party  to  the  Kilmainham 
treaty;  and  on  the  21st  of  May  he  made  a  speech  at  Man- 
chester on  these  lines.  Mr.  George  had  been  invited  to 
lecture  on  the  Irish  question  in  Free  Trade  Hall  and  Mr. 
Davitt  to  preside.  To  Mrs.  George  her  husband  that 
night  wrote:  "It  was  Davitt's  lecture,  not  mine.  He 
wanted  to  make  a  pronunciamento,  and  had  it  all  written 
out,  and  got  through  only  a  few  minutes  before  the  time 

378 


Age,  43]  DAVITT'S   PRONUNCIAMENTO  379 

when,  according  to  the  programme,  I  was  to  have  closed — 
so  that  I  spoke  for  only  about  fifteen  minutes,  and  as  usual 
under  such  circumstances,  hardly  did  myself  justice.  He 
was  nice  about  it,  though,  and  I  was  very  glad  to  have 
him  take  the  time  and  sit  down  on  the  'Treaty  of  Kil- 
mainham.' " 

"Disruption"  was  the  cry  at  once  raised  by  the  Par- 
nellites  against  Davitt  in  consequence  of  this  speech — a 
fatal  cry  in  so  many  Irish  struggles.  They  who  had  them- 
selves made  the  real  departure  in  setting  themselves  against 
the  Land  League  movement,  audaciously  charged  Davitt 
with  aiding  Ford  and  George  in  trying  to  make  a  split 
in  the  ranks.  Davitt  could  suffer  imprisonment,  but  he 
shrank  from  this.  He  told  George  a  few  days  later  when 
they  met  in  Dublin  that  he  thought  it  wiser  for  them 
not  to  travel  together  into  the  West  of  Ireland  as  they, 
or  at  least  as  George,  had  contemplated.  Mr.  George 
wrote  privately  to  Patrick  Ford  from  Dublin  (May  37)  : 

"I  have  seen  Davitt  ...  at  Dr.  Joseph  Kenny's. 
I  told  him  I  would  go  into  the  west  with  him  to-morrow, 
but  could  plainly  see  he  did  not  want  me  to  go.  .  .  . 
I  expressed  my  mind  to  him  and  to  Kenny  (a  Parnellite 
first,  last  and  all  the  time).  I  told  him  I  thought 
you  had  been  extremely  moderate;  that  I  was  sick  of 
this  undemocratic  talk  of  'leaders' ;  that  Davitt  did  rep- 
resent a  much  greater  idea  than  Parnell;  that  it  was 
not  merely  now,  but  during  Davitt's  long  imprisonment 
that  we  had  been  holding  him  up  as  such;  that  instead 
of  making  a  break,  you  were  doing  your  utmost  to  pre- 
vent it;  that  it  was  radical  men's  work  and  radical 
men's  money  that  had  been  the  backbone  of  the  Ameri- 
can support,  and  that  they  would  not  consent  to  be 
used,  and  to  be  told  that  what  they  had  been  sacrificing 
for  was  a  failure  and  a  humbug ;  and  that  there  was 
no  use  of  disguising  the  fact  that  between  the  pro- 
gramme on  which  American  money  had  been  largely 


380  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1882 

gathered  and  the  programme  now  offered  them  was  a 
wide  chasm;  and  that  in  America  at  least  I  believed 
the  smash  had  alread}'  come.  I  told  them,  of  course,  a 
good  deal  more  than  I  could  begin  to  write.  Healy 
came  in,  and  without  resuming  the  conversation  I  left. 
"With  the  exception  of  myself,  Davitt  has  seen  no- 
body since  he  came  out  but  the  Parnellites  and  the  Whig 
section  of  the  Land  League.  He  himself  is  all  right,  but 
he  is  a  very  impressible  man.  He  is  to  come  to  see  me  to- 
morrow. I  shall  tell  him  what  I  think,  but  I  won't  go 
down  into  the  west  with  him,  though  I  have  been  in- 
tending to  do  so  ever  since  I  have  been  here,  only  re- 
maining because  things  were  so  volcanic.  Of  course  I 
know  what  they  din  into  his  ears — 'George  has  captured 
you  for  the  "Irish  World." '  He  as  much  as  told  me  so 
before.  But  whatever  happens  now,  Davitt  will  be  to 
those  moderates — what  shall  I  call  them — a  bull  in  a 
china  shop.     I  am  confident  of  that." 

But  if  Davitt  shrank  from  an  open  break,  he  certainly 
had  plans  distinct  from  those  of  Parnell,  as  shown  by  a 
letter  from  George  to  Francis  G.  Shaw  (May  30)  : 

"Davitt  is  all  right.  He  believes  just  as  we  do,  but 
he  is  very  much  afraid  of  breaking  up  the  movement, 
and  is  sensitive  to  the  taunt  that  he  has  been  'captured 
by  Henry  George  and  the  "Irish  World."  '     .     .     . 

"Michael  Davitt  is  full  of  the  idea  of  popularising 
'Progress  and  Poverty.'  That  was  the  first  thing  he 
said  to  me.  He  had  read  it  twice  before,  and  he  read  it 
twice  again  while  in  Portland  [prison],  and  as  you  may 
see  from  his  speeches  and  letters,  he  believes  in  it  en- 
tirely. He  says  if  a  copy  of  that  book  can  be  put  in 
every  workman's  clul)  and  T^and  League  and  library  in 
the  three  kingdoms  the  revolution  will  be  made.  His 
first  act  was  to  demand  of  Parnell  and  Dillon  £500  to 
use  in  the  English  propaganda,  £300  of  which  he  wanted 
to  put  in  my  hands  for  as  many  copies  of  'Progress 
and  Poverty'  as  it  would  bring.     Parnell  and  Dillon  at 


Age,  43]  "PROGEESS  AND  POVERTY"  381 

first  agreed,  and  he  went  to  Paris  to  get  Egan's  con- 
sent. Egan  refused;  but  afterwards  wrote  that  what 
Davitt  wanted  would  have  to  be  granted,  and  then  after 
the  Manchester  speech  Parnell  and  Dillon  refused. 

"The  fact  is  that  the  line  is  really  drawn  and  the 
split  made,  but  not  publicly.  They  [the  Parnellites] 
will  not  budge  be5^ond  extension  of  the  purchase  clause; 
Davitt  is  for  nationalisation  and  our  programme.  And 
the  whole  strength  of  the  Land  League  management  is 
to  be  used — in  fact,  it  has  all  along  been  used — against 
the  spread  of  more  radical  ideas.  Davitt  says  he  is 
going  to  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
money  for  the  propaganda." 

But  the  money  that  was  wanted  came  suddenly  from 
another  quarter.  Mr.  Shaw  had  that  very  month  (May 
10)  sent  Mr.  George  $500,  saying:  "As  you  do  not  tell  me 
how  I  can  help  the  cause  just  now,  I  take  my  own  way 
and  inclose  a  draft  which  I  hope  may  strengthen  the 
hands  of  you,  its  representative."  And  nine  days  later 
Mr.  Shaw  wrote  that  he  had  received  a  pledge  of  $3,000 
for  the  circulation  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  from  a  man 
richer  than  he  was  wlio  did  not  want  to  be  known.  He 
said  that  some  of  the  money  he  would  hold  until  he  could 
learn  what  j\Ir.  George  advised  doing  with  it,  but  that 
meanwhile  he  had  ordered  of  Appleton  a  thousand  copies 
of  the  book  specially  bound  in  cloth  covers  to  be  sent  to 
the  members  of  the  Society  for  Political  Education  who 
were  men  of  importance  scattered  about  the  country,  and 
that  he  had  preceded  this  by  sending  to  them  copies  of 
George's  pamphlet,  "The  Irish  Land  Question."  Mr. 
George  was  at  first  inclined  to  believe  that  this  society  was 
*'a  sort  of  mutual  admiration  affair,"  on  the  members  of 
which  it  would  be  useless  to  waste  money;  but  the  fact 
of  the  distribution  subsequently  raising  some  contention 
in  the  columns  of  the  Boston  "Advertiser,"  he  then  wrote 


382  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [i882 

to  Mr.  Shaw  (August  3)  :  "You  have  kicked  up  a  row. 
And  of  all  the  things  we  want  to  do,  to  kick  up  a  row  is 
first  and  foremost.  For  when  the  row  begins  then  those 
who  most  bitterly  oppose  us  serve  the  cause  the  most." 

But  to  go  back.  On  June  6,  1882,  came  an  earthquake. 
Michael  Davitt,  despite  Parnell's  express  opposition,  made 
a  dashing  speech  in  Liverpool,  came  out  squarely  against 
the  peasant  proprietary  scheme  and  declared  himself  flatly 
for  "land  nationalisation."  Davitt  did  not  espouse  the 
George  method  of  application,  which  was  to  absorb  land 
values  through  taxation.  He  leaned  rather  to  Alfred  Kus- 
sell  Wallace's  plan  of  buying  the  land  from  the  land-own- 
ers (though  at  half  the  market  valuation)  and  then  exact- 
ing a  rent  from  the  holders,  which  seemed  to  the  socialists 
to  include  their  idea  of  "management."  But  method  just 
then  was  a  secondary  matter  with  Henry  George.  What 
he  was  most  interested  in  at  this  time  was  the  assertion 
of  the  principle  of  common  rights  in  land,  and  he  took 
Davitt's  speech  to  be  the  old  Land  League  cry  of  "the 
land  for  the  people,"  advanced  a  stage  towards  practical 
application.  The  speech  created  a  sensation.  George  was 
filled  with  exultation  and  wrote  to  Shaw  (June  8)  : 

• "  'Now,  by  St.  Paul,  the  work  goes  bravely  on !'  I 
think  we  may  fairly  say  that  we  have  done  something, 
and  that  our  theory  (  !)  is  at  last  forced  into  discussion. 
I  should  have  sent  you  a  congratulatory  despatch  last 
night;  but  I  knew  you  would  read  the  'Irish  World' 
and  would  know  I  was  thinking  of  you  when  sending 
the  news.  I  have  gained  the  point  I  have  been  quietly 
working  for,  and  now  those  who  oppose  us  most  bitterly 
will  help  us  most.  Well,  after  all  the  toil  and  worry 
and  the  heart  sickness,  when  the  devil  comes  to  whisper, 
'You  are  doing  nothing !'  there  are  some  half  hours  that 
pay  for  all.  And  because  I  feel  that,  I  know  that  you 
must  feel  that,  too." 


Age,  43]  A  POLITICAL  EAETHQUAKE  383 

.     On  the  same  day  George  wrote  to  Ford: 

"Davitt  will  be  with  you  as  soon  as  this  letter.  So 
there  is  no  use  of  my  saying  anything  about  him. 
.  .  .  For  the  moment  the  Kilmainham  Treatyites  are 
'flabbergasted,'  but  they  will  rally  and  fight.  It  is  a 
long  figlit  and  a  wide  fight — it  is  not  won  or  nearly  won ; 
but  it  has  commenced,  and  there  is  no  more  sailing 
under  false  colours.     .     .     . 

"Well,  I  feel  like  congratulating  you.  At  last  the 
banner  of  principle  is  flung  to  the  breeze,  so  that  all 
men  can  see  it,  and  the  real,  world-wide  fight  begun. 
What  we  have  been  hoping  and  praying  and  quietly 
working  for  is  so  far  accomplished. 

"Davitt  proposes  compensation.  Of  course  neither 
you,  nor  I,  nor  Bishop  Nulty  agree  to  anything  of  that 
sort;  but  that  makes  no  difference.  It  is  best  that 
Davitt  should  propose  it,  for  his  great  work  from  now 
on  is  to  be  rather  in  England  than  in  Ireland.  .  .  . 
I  don't  care  what  plan  any  one  proposes,  so  that  he 
goes  on  the  right  line. 

"I  lecture  in  the  Rotunda  (Dublin)  Saturday  night. 
You  can  well  imagine  what  I  will  say." 

This  lecture,  Mr.  George's  second  in  Dublin,  was  deliv- 
ered on  June  10.  It  was  on  the  "Irish  Land  Question" 
and  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  Prisoners'  Aid  Societies.  It 
took  the  line  of  and  supported  Davitt's  Liverpool  speech 
and  was  well  received,  for  he  wrote  to  Ford  three  days 
afterwards :  "Sexton,  who  had  been  all  the  week  in  Dublin 
lying  quiet,  put  in  an  appearance  at  the  lecture,  and  on 
moving  thanks  to  me  essayed  to  defend  somewhat  the 
peasant  proprietary  business;  but  I  went  for  that  in  my 
reply,  and  evidently  carried  the  audience  with  me.  .  .  . 
What  was  a  most  significant  thing  was  that  from  begin- 
ning to  end  Parnell's  name  was  not  mentioned.  .  .  . 
There  was  not  a  voice  for  him,  not  a  cheer." 


384  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882 

Nevertheless,  as  Mr.  George  had  predicted,  the  "Kil- 
mainham  Treatyites''  soon  rallied  and  began  to  fight,  and 
fight  with  effect.  They  attacked  George  covertly  at  first, 
aiming  to  arouse  national  jealousy  against  him  by  speaking 
of  him  as  "an  American"  and  a  "cosmopolitan  politician.'" 
But  Davitt  they  attacked  more  openly,  for  having  con- 
siderable influence  on  telegraphic  and  other  large  channels 
of  news  and  political  comment,  they  could  and  did  harry 
him  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  at  once. 

Davitt's  position  was  trying.  Patrick  Ford  had  ar- 
ranged for  a  big  reception  to  him  in  the  Academy  of 
Music,  New  York;  but  a  committee  from  the  Parnellite 
faction  went  down  the  bay,  first  reached  him  and  made 
out  such  a  case  that  he  felt  the  necessity  of  giving  a  promi- 
nent place  in  his  first  speech  in  America  to  an  explana- 
tion that  he  had  not  been  "captured"  by  Henry  George 
or  an3fbody  else. 

Then  again  occurred  the  unlooked  for.  Some  promi- 
nent prelates  in  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States 
had  condemned  the  Land  League  movement  as  attacking 
the  rights  of  property.  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  McGlynn  of 
St.  Stephen's  Catholic  Church,  one  of  the  largest  in  New 
York,  had  privately  expressed  strong  approval  of  the  move- 
ment, but  had  never  spoken  publicly  on  this  or  any  kin- 
dred subject.  He  had  been  widely  known  both  for  the 
eloquence  of  his  utterances  and  the  independence  of  his 
views,  and  yielding  to  the  pressure  to  come  out  and  take 
a  public  stand  on  the  land  question,  he  had  laid  prudential 
considerations  aside,  and  consented  to  speak  at  the  Davitt 
reception.  He  followed  Davitt  and  made  an  extraordi- 
nary speech  on  the  lines  of  the  land  for  the  people.  Ele- 
gant in  diction  and  oratorical  in  delivery,  it  flashed  with 
wit  and  burned  with  enthusiasm.  He  spoke  as  a  priest 
of  the  people,  who  bore  witness  to  the  everlasting  truth. 


Age,  43]  REV.  DR.  EDWARD  McGLYNN  385 

He  encouraged  Davitt  to  "preach  the  gospel"  and  not  to 
apologise  for  it  or  explain  it  away.  His  address  made 
such  a  sensation  that  the  Doctor  was  invited  to  speak  at 
most  of  the  meetings  with  Davitt  during  the  short  tour, 
and  he  did  speak  at  three,  at  one  of  them  saying : 

"If  I  might  take  the  liberty  of  advising  him  [Davitt] 
I  should  say :  'Explain  not  away  one  tittle  of  it,  but 
preach  the  gospel  in  its  purity !'  [Cheers.]  I  say  it 
is  a  good  gospel,  not  only  for  Ireland,  but  for  England, 
for  Scotland  and  for  America,  too.  [Great  cheering.] 
And  if  in  this  country  we  do  not  as  yet  feel  quite  so  much 
the  terrible  pressure  of  numbers  upon  the  land,  the  same 
terrible  struggle  between  'Progress  and  Poverty,'  as  is  felt 
in  other  lands,  no  thanks  are  due  at  all  to  our  political 
system,  but  thanks  only  to  the  bounties  of  nature,  and 
to  the  millions  of  acres  of  virgin  lands  with  which  God 
has  blessed  us.  But  when  these  virgin  lands  shall  have 
been  occupied ;  when  the  population  shall  have  increased 
here  as  it  has  elsewhere  in  proportion  to  our  extent  of 
territory,  we  shall  have  precisely  the  same  problem  to 
solve,  and  the  sooner  we  solve  it  the  better.  [Loud 
cheering.]  And  so  I  quite  agree  with  Michael  Davitt 
to  the  full,  and  with  Henry  George  to  the  full  [loud 
cheering,  and  three  cheers  for  Henry  George],  and  lest 
any  timid,  scrupulous  soul  might  fear  that  I  was  falling 
into  the  arms  of  Henry  George,  I  say  that  I  stand  on 
the  same  platform  with  Bishop  Nulty,  of  Meath,  Ire- 
land. [Cheers.]  But  for  that  matter — to  let  you  again 
into  a  secret — my  private  opinion  is,  that  if  I  had  to 
fall  into  the  arms  of  anybody,  I  don't  Icnow  a  man  into 
whose  arms  I  should  be  more  willing  to  fall  than  into 
the  arms  of  Henry  George."     [Loud  cheers.] 

These  speeches  were  too  marked  in  their  effects  on  popu- 
lar thouglit  in  this  country,  the  main  source  of  Land 
League  funds,  to  go  unnoticed  by  those  at  Pome  and 
elsewhere  bent  on  suppressing  the  Irish  cause;  and  the 


386  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i882 

powers  which  had  silenced  so  many  of  the  clergy  of  Ire- 
land, among  them  Dr.  Xulty,  for  the  same  kind  of  utter- 
ances, now  turned  towards  New  York.  They  caused  Car- 
dinal Simeoni,  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda,  in  the  name 
of  the  Pope,  to  write  several  letters  to  Cardinal  MeCloskey 
in  New  York  complaining  of  "the  priest  McGlynn"  who 
seemed  "very  much  inclined  to  favour  the  Irish  Eevolu- 
tion"  and  who  was  making  speeches  containing  "proposi- 
tions openly  opposed  to  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic 
Church."  The  Cardinal  Prefect  ordered  Dr.  McGlynn's 
suspension,  unless  Cardinal  MeCloskey  should  deem  an- 
other course  advisable.  Dr.  McGlynn  after  the  first  letter 
of  complaint  had  an  interview  with  Cardinal  MeCloskey. 
He  explained  his  doctrine,  and  as  he  said  five  years  later,^ 
he  defended  it  from  the  Cardinal's  "misunderstandings  and 
misapprehensions."  "I  told  him  substantially,"  said  Dr. 
McGlynn,  "that  I  knew  my  theology  well  enough  not  to 
sin  against  it  ignorantly,  and  that  I  loved  my  religion  too 
well  to  sin  against  it  wilfully."  As  a  result  of  this  inter- 
view Dr.  McGlynn  said  he  would  not  speak  further  for 
the  Irish  Land  League  cause.  "I  voluntarily  promised 
to  abstain  from  making  Land  League  speeches,  not  be- 
cause I  acknowledged  the  right  of  any  one  to  forbid  me, 
but  because  I  knew  too  well  the  power  of  my  ecclesiastical 
superiors  to  impair  and  almost  destroy  my  usefulness  in 
the  ministry  of  Christ's  Church  to  which  I  had  conse- 
crated my  life." 

While  to  Patrick  Ford,  Dr.  McGlynn  was  a  revelation, 
to  Henry  George  he  was  more  than  that,  for  never  before 
had  he  heard  of  the  clergyman.  McGlynn  was  a  new  star 
in  the  sky ;  as  George  wrote  to  the  "Irish  World,"  a  "Peter 
the  Hermit"  in  the  new  crusade;  and  as  he  wrote  to  Ford 

^Dr.  McGlynn's  review  of  liis  own  case,  "The  Standard,"  Feb.  5, 1887. 


Age,  43] 


A   PETER   THE   HERMIT  387 


privately:  "If  Davitt's  trip  had  no  other  result,  it  were 
well  worth  this.  To  start  such  a  man  is  worth  a  trip 
around  the  world  three  times  over.  He  is  'an  army  with 
banners.'  " 

But  it  was  of  Davitt  that  George  wrote  chiefly  to  Ford 
at  this  time.  Before  any  adequate  report  of  the  New 
York  meeting  had  reached  him,  he  said  (June  20)  :  "To- 
day there  is  a  despatch  that  Davitt  says  that  there  is  no 
dispute  between  him  and  Parnell,  and  that  the  latter's 
scheme  will  he  carried  first.  It  won't.  Davitt  has  awak- 
ened the  echoes  both  in  Ireland  and  in  England.  He  is 
first  and  Parnell  is  nowhere,  if  he  [Davitt]  will  only  stand 
firm  and  not  get  scared.  Tell  him  so  for  me."  George  wrote 
ten  days  later,  "It's  a  nice  combination  [against  Davitt] 
— Government,  Fenians,  Whigs  and  Parliamentarians! 
When  I  say  Fenians  I  mean  only  those  of  the  Devoy 
stripe."  But  Davitt  yielded  to  the  pressure,  both  while 
in  America  and  subsequently  when  he  returned  to  the 
British  side.  He  allowed  the  great  work  of  his  life  to 
be  subordinated  to  the  comparatively  trifling  Parliamen- 
tary programme.  George's  views  are  reflected  in  letters 
to  Ford: 

London,  July  1. 

"I  got  the  New  York  'Tribune's'  report  of  Davitt's 
speech,  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Shaw.  It  is  several  shades 
more  apologetic  than  I  should  like  to  see  it.  Think  of 
a  man  having  seriously  to  defend  himself  from  the 
charges  cf  being  captured  by  Henry  George  and  run  by 
the  'Irish  World' !  .  .  .  But  whatever  temporary 
events  may  be,  we  can  afford  to  laugh  at  those  who  op- 
pose us.  They  are  simply  drifting,  while  'the  stars  in 
their  courses  are  with  us.'  Don't  lose  heart  for  a 
moment,  however  much  you  may  be  tempted.  Those 
who  oppose  us  most  bitterly  will  help  our  cause  the 
most." 


388  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882 

London,  July  4. 
"The  Kilmainham  treaty  has  gone  to  smash  sure 
enough  at  last.  The  situation,  though,  is  not  a  good 
one — the  old  fight  in  the  dark  is  to  go  on  again.  Ire- 
land has  plenty  of  good  minor  officers  and  guerilla 
chiefs,  but  not  a  single  general.  Davitt  is  nearest,  but 
he  lessened  his  influence  and  injured  his  usefulness  by 
what  seems  to  me  like  weakness.  ...  A  great 
leader  would  not  begin  an  important  campaign  by  an 
apology,  and  I  am  well  satisfied  that  you  had  nothing 
to  do  with  that.  Well,  I  am  sorry  for  Davitt's  sake, 
but  the  cause  moves  on  no  matter  who  falls." 

Dublin,  August  4. 

"As  for  me,  Davitt  should  have  had  sense  enough 
to  know  that  no  one  could  have  made  him  my  'trumpet.' 
He  had  too  great  a  position.  And  surely  he  need  not 
have  been  afraid  of  my  trying  to  put  him  in  the  posi- 
tion of  a  disciple  of  mine.  For  in  public  and  in  pri- 
vate I  have  been  engaged  in  pushing  him  to  the  front 
as  the  'great  leader.'  But  his  enemies — O'Kelly  first, 
I  think — charged  him  with  being  captured  by  Henry 
George  and  the  'Irish  World.'  They  saw  that  that  an- 
noyed and  affected  him,  and  then  they  pushed  it.  All 
he  had  to  do  was  simply  to  go  forward  and  not  mind 
them.  But  their  talk  affected  him  so  much  that  he  was 
afraid  to  be  seen  with  me  or  to  have  me  go  where  he 
went.  And  so  they  made  him  morbidly  afraid  of  the 
'Irish  World.'  It  seems  to  me  pitiable  weakness  when 
a  man's  enemies  can  thus  make  him  afraid  of  and  un- 
just to  his  friends.  Davitt  has  let  his  enemies  turn 
him  and  swerve  him  in  various  ways;  he  has  put  him- 
self on  the  defensive  when  he  ought  to  have  been  on  the 
aggressive,  and  has  kept  himself  in  hot  water  and 
dropped  from  the  position  he  might  have  held. 

"But  he  is  a  noble  character,  and  by  far  the  best  of 
the  lot." 

The  palpable  fact  was  that  Henry  George  felt  increas- 
ingly lonely  in  the  Irish  movement — all  the  leaders  save 


Age,  43]  TO  INVADE  AFRICA  389 

Davitt  and  Brennan  hostile  to  him  in  principle,  and  even 
Davitt  now  shunning  close  connection  and  Brennan  gone 
off  to  the  South  of  France  in  utter  disgust  with  the  Kil- 
mainham  business.  George  had  come  in  touch  with  many 
representative  men  in  England  like  Joseph  Cowen,  pro- 
prietor of  the  "Newcastle  Chronicle,"  Thomas  F.  Walker, 
manufacturer,  Birmingham ;  and  William  Saunders,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Central  News  Agency  in  London.  He  had 
also  met  on  very  friendly  terms  the  new  Chief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  George  0.  Trevelyan;  and  for  John  Morley 
he  wrote  a  "Fortnightly"  article.  But  these  men  were 
of  the  general  British  radical  movement  and  not  of  the 
Irish  movement  per  se. 

Yet  on  the  other  hand,  such  men  as  John  Ferguson  of 
Glasgow  and  Eev.  Harold  Eylett  of  Belfast  joined  with  a 
host  of  Scottish  and  English  radicals  in  wishing  the  war 
carried  into  Africa,  believing  that  the  most  effective  way 
to  carry  on  the  Irish  land-for-the-people  fight  would  be  by 
raising  the  issue  in  England  and  Scotland.  To  this  end 
Mr.  George  was  invited  to  deliver  an  address  in  Glasgow 
on  St.  Patrick's  night,  the  17th  of  March.  He  accepted 
and  spoke  before  a  great  public  meeting  in  the  City  Hall. 
Three  nights  later  he  spoke  before  another  big  meeting  in 
the  National  Hall.  John  Ferguson  took  the  chair  at  the 
first  meeting  and  Richard  McGhee  at  the  second.  Many 
persons  date  the  radical  land  movement  in  Scotland  from 
these  meetings,  and  it  is  clear  that  they  put  the  spark  to 
the  agitation  among  the  crofters,  or  small  farmers,  which 
soon  blazed  up. 

Davitt  had  had  something  of  this  idea  of  spreading  the 
war  to  the  British  side  of  the  Irish  Sea  in  wishing  to 
circulate  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  now  George,  get- 
ting the  Shaw  money,  obtained  the  means  with  which  to 
carry  the  idea  forward.     Shaw  cabled  that  he  would  send 


390  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i882 

£300,  and  George  replied  by  letter,  "ISTow  we  shall  start 
the  revolution !" 

He  made  an  arrangement  with  James  C.  Durant,  who 
had  a  printing  office  in  Clement's  Inn-Passage,  for  setting 
type  and  making  plates  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  for  a 
book  of  eighty-eight  pages,  quarto  form,  and  paper  cover, 
to  sell  at  sixpence  a  copy.  Durant  was  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  the  book  and  agreed  to  risk  one  third  of  the 
expense,  and  to  take  his  pay  out  of  the  profits,  if  there 
should  be  any.  George  was  to  meet  the  other  two  thirds 
of  expense.  He  did  not  look  for  any  profit  to  himself 
after  paying  Durant;  indeed,  unless  the  sale  should  be 
very  large  they  both  stood  to  lose  on  the  operation;  but 
both  were  moved  by  the  spirit  of  the  propaganda. 

Kegan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co.  were  to  handle  the  sixpenny 
edition  on  commission.  From  thinking  nothing  at  all  of 
the  book,  they  had  come  to  have  great  expectations  of  it, 
George  writing  Shaw  as  early  as  February  11  (1882)  : 

"Paul,  of  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co.,  says  it  is  the 
most  astonishing  success  he  ever  knew.  When  they  first 
got  it  out  no  one  would  touch  it.  They  laughed  at 
the  idea  of  selling  an  American  book  on  political  econ- 
omy. It  was  a  long  while  before  they  got  rid  of  twenty 
copies.  Then,  as  he  says,  purely  on  its  own  strength, 
the  book  to  their  astonishment  began  to  make  its  way. 
Their  first  edition  was  out  early  in  December  (1881). 
They  have  got  another;  that  is  going  faster,  and  they 
anticipate  a  big  sale." 

It  was  Mr.  George's  idea  to  push  the  reading  of  'Trog- 
ress  and  Poverty"  all  over  the  three  kingdoms.  As  a  pre- 
liminary to  this,  he  bought  a  set  of  plates  of  "The  Irish 
Land  Question''  from  the  Glasgow  publishers,  Cameron 
&    Ferguson — the    Ferguson    who    had    with    Davitt   and 


Age,  43]  A  SIXPENNY  EDITION  391 

Brennan  begun  the  Land  League  movement.  From  those 
plates  an  edition  of  five  thousand  copies  of  the  pamphlet 
was  struck  off  and  sold  at  threepence  each.  Copies  of  it, 
together  with  a  little  four-paged  tract  by  Mr.  Shaw,  en- 
titled "A  Piece  of  Land,"  were  sent  to  all  the  newspapers 
in  the  United  Kingdom  and  to  all  the  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment. In  a  similar  way  copies  of  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty" were  sent  out  when  it  appeared.  Sample  copies  were 
also  sent  to  every  Land  League  organisation  and  every 
working  men's  club  with  a  circular  offering  to  supply  quan- 
tities at  wholesale  rates.  This  edition  of  the  book  was 
also  advertised  in  some  of  the  papers,  so  that  the  £300 
from  America  was  made  to  go  as  far  as  it  would  in  the 
propaganda  work,  and  Mr.  George  was  enabled  to  write  by 
June  30  to  Mr.  Shaw:  "So,  my  dear  friend,  we  are  in  the 
way  of  doing  something — so  much  that  I  don't  like  to  say 
what  I  really  think.  The  big  stone  is  really  moving.  All 
it  wants  is  a  little  push  to  start  it  rolling.  And  that,  I 
think  we  are  about  to  give.  It  is  not  what  we  do  so  much 
as  what  we  start  other  people  doing." 

As  if  in  a  measure  to  meet  the  "slowing  down"  policy 
of  the  Parliamentary  party,  Patrick  Ford  had  asked  Mr. 
George  to  stump  Ireland;  but  he  had  dissented.  "I  am 
willing  and  anxious  to  do  all  I  can,"  he  wrote  (June  32), 
"and  I  have  done  all  I  have  been  asked  to  do ;  but  you  must 
remember  I  am  not  an  Irishman,  and  these  people  are  jeal- 
ous of  advice  or  interference  from  an  outsider.  That  is 
the  reason  they  are  thrusting  me  forward,  saying  I  have 
captured  Davitt,  etc.  You  see  how  Harris  alludes  to  me 
as  a  'cosmopolitan  politician.'  I  don't  like  to  mix  in  Irish 
politics  on  this  account." 

Nevertheless,  he  now  concluded  to  make  a  correspon- 
dence trip  to  Western  Ireland.  He  set  off  early  in  August, 
accompanied  by  an  Englishman,  James  Leigh  Joynes,  one 


392  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [issa 

of  the  masters  of  Eton  College,  who  wished  to  see  some- 
thing of  the  popular  side  of  the  Irish  movement  and  who 
was  engaged  to  write  some  descriptive  articles  for  the 
London  "Times."  Joynes  started  out  with  the  average 
Englishman's  idea  that  rural  Ireland  was  a  place  of  out- 
rages and  murders.  As  they  rode  along  part  of  their 
journey  on  an  open  jaunting  car,  he  appeared  somewhat 
apprehensive  of  their  being  mistaken  for  landlords  and 
shot  from  behind  the  walls  or  hedges  that  fringed  the 
roads.  But  the  most  peaceable  of  rural  country  met  their 
view,  and  many  pictures  of  industry  that  gave  rise  to 
Mr.  George's  expression  in  an  "Irish  World"  letter  (Au- 
gust 23)  that  "of  all  the  libels  upon  the  Irish,  that  which 
stigmatises  them  as  idlers  is  the  worst.  If  there  are  on 
the  earth's  surface  any  people  who  will  work  harder  and 
suffer  more  for  those  who  cling  to  them,  I  do  not  know 
where  they  are  to  be  found." 

At  length  the  travellers  arrived  at  the  little  town  of 
Loughree.  It  was  "guarded  by  seven  police  fortresses," 
besides  having  "two  police  barracks  and  a  large  military 
barrack."  "As  we  drove  down  the  street  to  the  only  hotel," 
said  Mr.  George,  "the  police  seemed  to  start  from  the 
houses  on  each  side  and  follow  us."  And  the  moment  the 
travellers  sprang  to  the  ground  both  were  arrested  under 
the  Crimes  Act  as  "suspicious  strangers."  Said  Mr. 
George : 

"The  whole  thing  struck  me  as  infinitely  ridiculous. 
There  was,  after  all,  a  good  deal  of  human  nature  in 
Artemus  Ward's  declaration  that  he  was  willing  to  sac- 
rifice all  his  wife's  relatives  to  save  the  Union.  And 
in  my  satisfaction  in  seeing  an  Eton  master  lugged 
through  the  town  as  too  suspicious  a  stranger  to  be  left 
at  large  I  lost  all  sense  of  annoyance  at  my  own  arrest. 
In  fact,  my  only  regret  was  that  it  was  not  Kegan 
Paul." 


Age,  43]  AKRESTED  IN  IRELAND  393 

They  were  taken  into  a  barred  room  in  the  barrack,  and 
despite  Joynes'  profuse  protestations  that  there  must  be 
some  mistake,  the  police  went  through  the  baggage  and 
examined  all  the  papers.     Mr.  George  says: 

"A  rough  draft  of  a  bit  of  poetry  was  scanned  over 
by  a  knot  of  constables  as  though  it  had  been  a  Moon- 
light general  order  or  a  receipt  for  making  dynamite, 
while  as  for  a  little  leaflet,  'A  Piece  of  Land,'  by  our 
countryman,  Francis  G.  Shaw,  I  think  they  must  almost 
have  got  it  by  heart  the  way  they  stared  at  it.  .  .  .  I 
could  not  feel  angry — the  whole  thing  was  too  supremely 
ridiculous,  but  the  Eton  master  could  not  see  the  joke. 
To  come  to  Ireland  only  to  be  mistaken  for  an  emissary 
of  sedition,  a  would-be  assassin  of  landlords,  or  maimer 
of  cattle,  was  something  that  had  not  entered  into  his 
calculations.'^ 


Eesident  Magistrate  Byrne  who  came  to  examine  them 
apparently  soon  concluded  that  there  had  been  a  mistake, 
even  if  the  police  had  acted  upon  telegraphic  orders  from 
some  source.  At  any  rate,  after  three  hours'  detention 
the  suspects  were  released,  not,  however,  without  a  formaL 
protest  from  Mr.  George  against  the  proceedings  as  "need- 
lessly annoying  and  insulting." 

After  spending  that  night  at  the  hotel  they  visited  Prior 
Corbett  of  the  Carmelite  Order  and  the  stores  of  several 
"suspects."  Then  they  drove  to  the  town  of  Athenry,  a 
few  miles  distant  and  within  the  same  police  district — "a 
town  of  one  pump,"  an  ordinary  hand  pump,  from  which 
the  entire  water  supply  of  the  place  is  drawn.  Yet  in  so 
small  a  town,  which  furthermore  could  not  support  a  sin- 
gle doctor,  were  quartered  no  less  than  twenty-six  police 
constables  and  fifty-six  soldiers.  The  travellers  visited 
Father  McPhilpin  and  then  viewed  the  antiquities  of  the 
place,  after  which  they  went  to  the  railway-station  to  take 


394  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i882 

train  for  Galway.  But  the  i3olice,  a  great  number  of 
whom  had  appeared  to  be  lounging  around,  closed  in  and 
arrested  George,  but  not  Joynes.  After  several  hours' 
detention,  Mr.  George  was  taken  before  Magistrate  Byrne 
— the  same  magistrate  who  had  examined  him  at  Lougliree 
— and  a  lot  of  foolish  testimony  was  presented  touching 
the  prisoner's  movements  and  the  nature  of  his  printed 
papers  and  written  notes.  One  of  the  papers  put  in  evi- 
dence was  a  list  of  names,  with  the  supposed  letters  "F. 
C."  after  some  of  them,  which  the  Head  Constable  believed 
meant  "Fenian  Centre,"  but  which  the  magistrate  inter- 
preted to  be  "T.  C,"  and  to  mean  "Town  Councillor." 
The  upshot  of  the  matter  was  Mr.  George's  discharge. 


"The  magistrate  then  summed  up  with  a  justification 
of  the  police  for  arresting  me,  and  to  my  surprise  fin- 
ished by  discharging  me.  Whether  what  had  seemed 
to  me  the  manifest  purpose  to  require  bail  had  been 
altered  by  the  telegrams  which  Mr.  Trevelyan  stated  in 
the  House  of  Commons  he  had  sent  to  Ireland  on  the 
subject,  or  whether  it  was  the  magistrate's  own  sense, 
I  cannot  tell." 


The  trip  affected  a  radical  change  in  Mr.  Joynes'  views 
of  the  state  of  Ireland,  and  he  wrote  letters  to  the  Lon- 
don "Times"  based  upon  what  he  had  seen  and  heard 
that  seemed  incomprehensible  to  the  editor,  so  that  the 
arrangement  between  Joynes  and  the  newspaper  was  can- 
celled. 

When  Mr.  George  got  back  to  Dublin  in  the  middle  of 
August  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Shaw :  "I  have  just  returned  from 
a  very  interesting  trip  into  the  west,  in  which  among  other 
things  I  saw  the  inside  of  two  'British  Bastiles.'  "  He 
also  sent  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  a  letter 


Age,  43]  A  SECOND  ARREST  395 

of  protest  at  the  uselessness  of  the  American  Ministerial 
representation  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  making  his  own 
case  the  occasion  of  his  writing  and  saying  that  while  he 
fully  realised  the  duty  of  an  American  citizen  "in  a  for- 
eign country  to  conform  his  conduct  to  the  laws  of  that 
country,  and  that  he  cannot  expect  exemption  from  such 
police  regulations  as  its  Government  may  deem  necessary," 
yet  "that  it  is  due  to  their  own  dignity  that  the  United 
States  should  claim  for  their  citizens  travelling  in  countries 
with  which  they  maintain  relations  of  amity,  exemption 
from  wanton  annoyances,  unreasonable  inquisitions  and 
imprisonment  upon  frivolous  pretexts."  He  averred  that 
American  citizens  had  been  imprisoned  there  "without 
trial,  and  even  without  specific  accusation,"  while  the  only 
action  taken  by  the  United  States  so  far  as  known  and 
currently  reported  there  was  on  the  part  of  American 
consuls  who  "attempted  to  bribe  them  by  offers  of  money 
into  acknowledgment  of  the  justice  of  their  arbitrary  im- 
prisonment by  agreeing  to  leave  the  country  as  a  condition 
of  release."  The  letter  was  aimed  at  James  Russell  Low- 
ell, the  United  States  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James 
— "a  place,"  as  Mr.  George  often  afterwards  described  it, 
"for  the  spoiling  of  good  poets."  To  make  the  protest 
more  direct  seemed  inadvisable  on  account  of  the  relations 
existing  between  Lowell  and  Mr.  Shaw.  N'evertheless,  the 
letter  stirred  up  the  Administration  at  Washington  to  call 
upon  the  Government  representatives  for  proper  action  in 
such  cases.  When  Mr.  George  returned  to  the  United 
States  he  was  invited  by  Secretary  of  State  Frelinghuy- 
sen  to  put  in  a  claim  for  damages,  but  he  declined,  saying 
that  all  he  asked  for  was  protection  to  the  citizen  in  his 
proper  rights  abroad. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Shaw  (September  12)   Mr.  George 
wrote  with  some  amusement : 


396  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i882 

"By  the  bye,  I  met  William  H.  Appleton  in  London. 
He  told  me  that  Lowell  had  been  talking  to  him  about 
me,  and  asked,  'Why,  who  in  the  world  buys  such  a 
book  as  that?' 

"  'Well,'  said  Appleton,  'one  man  who  buys  it  is  a 
friend  of  yours — Francis  G.  Shaw.  He  bought  a  thou- 
sand, and  then  he  came  back  and  bought  another  thou- 
sand." 

"  'Goodness !'  exclaimed  Lowell — or  words  to  that 
effect;  'he  is  a  dear,  good  friend  of  mine,  but — but,  he 
must  be  getting  eccentric !' 

"I  brought  a  letter  to  Lowell  from  John  Eussell 
Young,  but  never  presented  it." 

The  incident  of  Mr.  George's  arrest  and  the  Parliamen- 
tary questioning  relative  to  it  were  noticed  by  all  the  news- 
papers in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  all  of  which  fell  in 
most  aptly  with  George's  plans  to  "start  the  revolution." 
The  press  had  just  been  noticing  "The  Irish  Land  Ques- 
tion" pamphlet  very  liberally  and  now  at  last  the  English 
printers  had  the  sixpenny  edition  of  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty" ready.  Twelve  thousand  copies  were  printed  in  the 
first  edition,  and  two  thousand  were  distributed  free. 
Within  a  few  days  there  was,  perhaps,  reason  for  his  joy- 
ous words  to  Shaw,  "I  feel  as  though  we  are  really  begin- 
ning to  'move  the  world,' "  for  the  London  "Times"  set 
an  example  to  the  British  newspapers  and  periodicals  by 
seriously  reviewing  "Progress  and  Poverty"  in  a  five-col- 
umn article — an  example  that  brought  reviews  tumbling 
in.  Kegan  Paul  sold  all  the  copies  of  the  book  he  had  on 
hand  by  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  the  "Times" 
article  appeared.  John  Eussell  Young,  then  United  States 
Minister  to  China,  sent  George  congratulations  from 
Pekin,  saying  that  the  fact  of  such  a  lengthy  review,  was, 
regardless  of  its  spirit,  the  "blue  ribbon  of  critical  appro- 
bation," and  that  it  ranked  George  "at  once  among  the 


Age.  43]  LONDON    "TIMES"  REVIEWS  397 

thinkers  of  the  age,"  whose  words  were  "worth  heeding  in 
England."  No  one  more  fully  appreciated  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  article  than  the  author  himself,  and  he  wrote 
to  his  San  Francisco  friend,  Dr.  Taylor  (September  16)  : 
"I  send  you  the  '^Times'  notice.  The  book  which  the 
'^Alta  California'  said  never  would  be  heard  of  is  at  last, 
it  is  now  safe  to  say,  famous.  The  cheap  edition  is  going 
off  well.  One  house  in  Melbourne  took  1,300  copies  and 
300  went  to  New  Zealand."  To  Mr.  Young,  he  wrote 
shortly  after  returning  to  New  York  (January  17,  1883)  : 

"The  review  in  the  'Times'  gratified  me  very  much. 
The  'Times'  had  alluded  to  me  previously  in  several 
editorials,  saying  that  I  could  no  longer  be  ignored,  and 
a  good  many  other  things  not  too  flattering.  I  saw  in 
a  moment  that  the  review  was  from  a  friendly  hand. 
If  you  noticed  it,  you  must  have  seen  that  it  was  writ- 
ten with  great  skill;  for  the  purpose  of  directing  atten- 
tion to  the  book,  slurring  over  those  things  that  would 
be  disagreeable  to  the  British  people  and  dwelling  on 
those  things  that  would  attract  them.  The  'Atheneum,' 
alluding  to  it,  said  it  was  by  Fraser  Kae.  I  went  to 
see  him,  delivering  your  letter;  and  had  a  very  pleasant 
talk.  He  had  got  the  book  originally  from  you.  He 
was  very  anxious  for  me  to  dine  with  him  and  meet  a 
professor  of  political  economy  at  one  of  the  Scotch  uni- 
versities, who  desired  to  meet  me;  but  I  was  leaving 
London  for  Ireland  and  could  not  do  so." 

Then,  too,  came  encouragement  from  another  quarter. 
Early  in  1882  the  Land  Nationalisation  Society  had  been 
started  in  London.  The  eminent  Alfred  Russell  Wallace 
was  at  its  head  and  his  recent  book,  "Land  Nationalisa- 
tion," ostensibly  embodied  its  aim.  It  contained  in  its 
membership  those  who  like  Wallace  desired  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  land  by  purchase  and  then  have  the  State  exact 
an  annual  quit-rent  from  whoever  held  it;  those  who  had 


398  LIFE  OF  HENRY   GEORGE  [i882 

the  socialistic  idea  of  having  the  State  take  possession  of 
the  land  with  or  without  compensation  and  then  manage  it ; 
and  those  who  with  Henry  George  repudiated  all  idea 
either  of  compensation  or  of  management  and  would  rec- 
ognise common  rights  to  land  simply  by  having  the  State 
appropriate  its  annual  value  by  taxation.  Such  conflict- 
ing elements  could  not  long  continue  together,  and  soon 
those  holding  the  George  idea  withdrew  and  organised  on 
their  own  distinctive  lines,  giving  the  name  of  the  Land 
Reform  Union  to  their  organisation.  But  meanwhile  the 
Land  Nationalisation  Society  invited  Mr.  George  to  lec- 
ture under  the  auspices  of  a  working  men's  audience  in 
Memorial  Hall  on  September  6,  Professor  Wallace  presid- 
ing. This  was  Henry  George's  first  public  speech  in  Lon- 
don and  he  addressed  the  class  he  was  very  anxious  to 
reach.  For  as  he  said  in  April  in  writing  to  Mr.  Shaw: 
"I  have  little  hope  of  the  literary  class  here — never  at  all 
of  the  men  who  have  made  their  reputations.  It  is  the 
masses  whom  we  must  try  to  educate,  and  they  are  hard 
to  get  at  through  ordinary  channels." 

This  working  men's  lecture  was  followed  by  a  meeting 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  19th  that  gave  him  real  satisfac- 
tion— a  meeting  of  Church  of  England  clergymen.  The 
proceedings  had  much  the  nature  of  a  conference,  Mr. 
George  making  a  few  preliminary  remarks  explanatory  of 
his  principles  and  then  answering  questions.  He  wrote  to 
Mr.  Shaw  (September  21)  :  "The  meeting  of  clergymen 
was  most  remarkable.  It  occupied  three  hours.  The  ball 
has  surely  commenced  to  roll."  That  evening  he  was  hon- 
oured with  a  two  shilling  working  men's  banquet,  and  then 
he  bade  adieu  to  his  English  friends  and  started  for  Dub- 
lin and  home. 

On  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Dublin,  Mr.  George 
was  entertained  at  a  banquet  by  T.  D.   Sullivan,  M.  P., 


Age,  43]  SAILS  FOE   HOME  399 

Dwyer  Gray,  owner  of  the  "Freeman's  Journal/'  Michael 
Davitt,  Dr.  James  E.  Kelly,  Father  Behan,  Dr.  Joseph 
Kenny,  and  other  well-known  citizens ;  and  then,  the  eldest 
daughter  who  had  been  ill  with  typhoid  fever  being  strong 
enough  to  travel,  the  family  proceeded  to  Queenstown  and 
on  October  4  embarked  on  the  National  liner  Helvetia 
for  New  York. 

But  before  leaving  Dublin   Mr.   George  wrote  to   Mr. 
Shaw  (September  26)  : 

"Sure  as  we  live,  we  have  kindled  the  fire  in  Eng- 
land, and  there  is  no  human  power  that  can  put  it  out. 
Thanks  to  you,  and  the  friend  who  made  the  contribu- 
tion through  you,  I  think  I  have  in  this  year  done  a 
bigger  work  (or  rather  started  bigger  forces)  than  any 
American  who  ever  crossed  to  the  old  country.  I  say 
this  freely  to  you,  because  without  you  I  could  not  have 
come  or  stayed. 

"Our  English  friends  are  very  earnest  for  me  to  stay ; 
but  I  know  the  movement  will  go  ahead  without  me. 
No  man  is  necessary  to  it  now.  We  may  help  a  little; 
but  whether  we  help  or  not,  it  will  go  on. 

"Hope  to  have  a  twenty  thousand  new  edition  of 
'Progress  and  Poverty'  printed  by  next  Monday." 


CHAPTER   V. 
KINDLING    THE    FIRE    AT    HOME. 

1883-1883.  Age,  43-44. 

A  YEAR  before  Henry  George  had  sailed  away  from 
New  York  scarcely  noticed.  Now  he  returned  to 
find  himself,  as  he  said,  "pretty  near  famous";  the  news- 
papers heralding  him,  the  labor  unions  crowding  spacious 
Cooper  Union  for  a  formal  welcome,  and  men  notable  at 
bench  and  bar,  in  politics,  the  ministry  and  commercial 
pursuits  banqueting  him  at  Delmonico's.  Hon.  Algernon 
S.  Sullivan  was  toastmaster  at  the  banquet,  with  Justice 
Arnoux,  Justice  Van  Brunt,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Thomas 
G.  Shearman,  Andrew  McLean,  and  Francis  B.  Thurber 
among  the  speakers.  Mr.  George  alarmed  his  immediate 
friends  by  mistaking  the  hour  and  arriving  late,  and 
amused  others  by  having  forgotten  to  get  his  shoes  pol- 
ished. But  the  occasion  passed  with  fine  effect,  the 
guest's  speech  being  marked  by  quiet  delivery,  yet  intense 
feeling,  for  he  believed  this  to  be  but  another  indication 
that  the  world  was  awakening  to  the  truth.  That  differ- 
ent feelings  were  also  awakening  elsewhere  was  manifest 
from  the  fact  that  amid  the  generally  favourable  notices 
of  the  press  was  one  observing  that  a  number  of  the  per- 
sons present  representing  special  privileges  probably  had 

400 


Age,  43^]  i  HONOURED  AT   HOME  401 

no  notion  of  the  ideas  promulgated  by  the  man  they 
honoured,  since  they  acted  like  a  lot  of  fat  sheep  who  had 
without  realising  their  danger  invited  a  wolf  into  the  fold. 
If  Mr.  George  did  not  feel  the  force  of  this  remark  at 
once,  he  did  when,  three  years  later,  lines  of  interest  were 
drawn,  and  many  of  those  who  had  feted  him  at  Del- 
monico's  took  front  rank  among  the  "Society  Savers"  ar- 
rayed against  him.  Then  he  said  with  a  twinkling  eye 
to  those  about  him:  "Those  gentlemen  gave  me  a  com- 
plimentary dinner  once." 

But  no  matter  to  what  changed  feelings  some  of  the 
banqueters  afterwards  awakened,  the  fact  of  such  an  event 
gave  evidence,  as  much  as  the  working  men's  reception, 
of  a  strong  tide  setting  in  the  direction  to  which  the 
George  ideas  pointed,  so  that  it  was  with  a  consciousness 
of  rising  power  that  he  wrote  to  Eev.  Father  Dawson  of 
Ireland  (October  23)  :  "I  find  that  the  prophet  is  hon- 
oured, even  in  his  own  country";  and  that  he  wrote  to 
Taylor  at  the  same  time:  "It  is  a  good  deal  like  going  to 
sleep  and  waking  up  famous." 

Charles  IsTordhoS  of  the  "New  York  Herald"  thought 
the  time  had  come  for  Mr.  George  to  be  most  useful  in 
Congress;  that  there  he  could  get  the  best  hearing  before 
the  country  and  make  his  influence  felt  in  tangible  laws, 
primarily  towards  a  liberation  of  trade,  for  Nordhofl  was 
a  radical  free  trader.  To  Nordhoff's  letter  suggesting 
that  he  talk  with  Patrick  Ford  about  the  matter,  George 
replied  (October  39)  :  "I  think  I  can  be  quite  as  useful 
outside  of  Congress  as  in,  and  I  should  not  now  seek  a 
nomination  in  any  way.  So  I  shall  not  say  anything  to 
the  'Irish  World'  people  about  the  matter.  But  I  quite 
as  fully  appreciate  your  kindness  and  your  esteem  as 
though  I  wanted  the  place." 

One  of  the  first  things  that  Mr.  George  did  after  get- 


402  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1883-1883 

ting  back  was  to  call  upon  Eev.  Dr.  Edward  McGlynn 
and  pay  his  respects.  The  clergyman  was  a  native  of 
Xew  York,  of  Irish  parentage.  At  an  early  age  he  be- 
came a  protege  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  who  sent  him  to 
the  College  of  the  Propaganda  at  Eome  to  study  for  the 
priesthood.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  student  and  was 
ordained  at  twenty-two,  becoming  at  first  the  assistant, 
and  at  thirty,  the  successor  to  Eev.  Dr.  Cummings  of  St. 
Stephen's  Church,  New  York.  Dr.  Cummings  was  a  man 
of  extensive  learning  and  very  liberal  views.  As  such  he 
had  large  influence  in  the  community,  an  influence  which 
his  young  successor,  with  like  qualities,  acquired  and  ex- 
tended. Dr.  McGlynn  was  two  years  Henry  George's 
senior,  and  when  they  met  was  in  his  forty-sixth  year. 
A  copy  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  had  been  given  to  him 
by  A.  J.  Steers,  the  young  man  in  D.  Appleton  &  Co.'s 
employ  who  had  helped  persuade  that  house  to  get  out 
a  dollar  edition  of  the  book  in  1880. 

On  meeting  Dr.  McGlynn,  Henry  George  found  a  large 
man  physically,  of  urbane  manners,  many  intellectual 
graces  and  remarkable  conversational  gifts;  and  with 
those  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  that  made  him  the  loved 
and  venerated  priest,  confessor,  adviser,  leader — the  fa- 
ther— among  the  poor  of  a  great  New  York  City  parish. 
Dr.  McGlynn  subsequently  speaking  of  this  meeting,  said: 
"Already  captured  by  Progress  and  Poverty,'  I  was  now 
captured  by  its  author.  I  found  united  Avith  his  lofty 
intellect  and  virile  character,  the  simplicity  and  sweet- 
ness of  a  child — in  fact,  that  'something  feminine'  which 
a  Frenchman  has  said  is  to  be  found  in  all  men  truly 
great."  The  two  men  talked  simply,  yet  they  understood 
each  other.  That  meeting  began  the  intimate  friendship 
between  "the  Priest  and  the  Prophet." 

There  were  many  calls  for  lectures  and  some  for  arti- 


Age,  43-44]  DEATH  OF  MR.  SHAW  403 

cles  from  Mr.  George's  pen,  and  he  was  in  the  midst  of 
his  plans  when  death  struck  down  his  friend,  Francis  Gr. 
Shaw,  after  seventy-two  years  of  usefulness  to  his  kind. 
To  Mrs.  George,  who  was  in  Philadelphia,  her  husband 
hastily  wrote  (iSTovember  8)  :  "I  got  this  morning  a  letter 
from  Mrs.  Lowell  saying  that  her  father,  Mr.  Shaw,  was 
very  sick  and  could  not  live.  I  went  over  there  as  soon 
as  I  could  and  found  he  had  died  last  night.  I  have  no 
sorroAV  for  his  sake,  but  I  feel  the  loss  of  such  a  friend 
and  deeply  regret  that  I  did  not  get  an  opportunity  to 
see  him  again.  Yet  this  is  generally  the  way  our  last 
partings  seem  to  us — partings  for  a  day !" 

Beautiful  memorial  sketches  of  Mr.  Shaw  were  written 
by  Sydney  Howard  Gay  and  George  William  Curtis  and 
printed  for  private  circulation.  Mr.  George  made  the 
dedication  of  a  new  book  later  in  the  year  the  wreath  of 
his  lasting  tribute,  but  in  the  first  days  he  expressed  his 
sentiments  to  the  daughter,  Mrs.  Lowell  (November  15)  : 
"There  was  between  us  something  of  that  feeling  that 
among  the  ancients  was  the  closest  of  ties.  I  was,  in 
some  respects  at  least,  his  proxy,  his  younger  man,  whom 
he  sent  into  the  struggle  he  would  have  made  himself; 
and  this  thought  will  always  be  to  me  a  satisfaction  and 
a  strength." 

Mr.  George  made  a  lecturing  trip  to  St.  Louis,  Terre 
Haute  and  Wheeling,  speaking  on  the  land  question. 
When  he  got  back  to  New  York  he  wrote  to  Taylor 
(January  17)  : 

"I  have  received  $1000,  which  Mr.  Shaw  left  me. 
This  puts  me  at  ease.  I  shall  use  it  in  the  way  I  know  he 
intended  it — to  give  me  leisure  to  do  some  writing — and 
before  that  is  gone  I  shall  have  my  feet  well  under  me. 

"What  a  curious  life  mine  is — literally  from  hand  to 
mouth ;  and  yet  always  a  way  seems  to  open. 


404  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

"I  want  to  do  something  strong  on  the  tariff;  and 
then  a  popularisation — in  the  form  probably  of  question 
and  answer — of  our  doctrines,  with  special  view  to  the 
farmers.  And  by  that  time  the  cheap  'Progress  and 
Poverty'  will  have  told,  and  I  shall  have  made  some  pay- 
ing lecture  engagements. 

"My  article  goes  in  the  'North  American  Eeview'  next 
month  (March  number). 

•'Get  the  'Modern  Eeview'  for  January.  It  is  the 
best  review  of  'Progress  and  Poverty'  yet."^ 


Kote  should  be  taken  of  the  "Xorth  American  Review" 
article  of  which  Mr.  George  spoke.  It  was  entitled 
"Money  in  Elections."  In  it  he  advocated,  as  the  correc- 
tive of  purchase  and  intimidation  of  voters,  the  adoption 
of  the  Australian  secret  ballot  system.  In  San  Francisco 
twelve  years  before  he  had  made  the  same  proposal  in 
the  "Overland  Monthly,"  and  when  in  1886  he  became 
candidate  for  the  New  York  Mayoralty,  this  principle 
formed  one  of  the  planks  of  his  platform. 

But  this  "North  American"  article  was  now  merely 
by  the  way.  The  English  cheap  edition  of  "Progress  and 
Poverty"  was  doing  so  well  that  the  author  was  set  on  a 
cheajD  American  edition.  He  thought  of  importing  a 
duplicate  set  of  the  English  plates,  but  abandoned  this  to 
put  the  book  in  the  hands  of  John  W.  Lovell,  a  publisher 
of  standard  books  in  cheap  form,  who  had  just  started  a 
serial  library,  with  a  complete  book  in  each  number.  They 
were  paper  covered,  compact,  attractive  volumes.  "Prog- 
ress and  Poverty,"  like  the  average  number,  was  sold  for 
twenty  cents — more  than  the  English  edition,  l)ut  there 
were  compensating  advantages  in  size  and  appearance  and 
as  to  distribution.     Mr.  George  was  to  get  ten  per  cent. 

1  Signed  article  by  George  Sarson,  M,  A. 


Age,  43-44]  CHEAP  EDITION  OF  BOOKS  405 

royalty,  the  same  as  from  Appleton  for  the  better  edition; 
but  this  in  effect  amounted  to  very  little,  for  the  author 
gave  away  so  many  copies  and  made  such  large  personal 
discounts  to  those  who  bought  quantities  for  educational 
purposes,  that  the  Lovell  edition  brought  small  return  to 
him,  considering  the  great  sale. 

"The  Irish  Land  Question"  also  was  put  in  Lovell's 
Library,  and  at  ten  cents  a  copy.  In  order  to  make  it 
apply  to  the  United  States  and  the  world,  rather  than  to 
Ireland  exclusively,  the  title  was  modified  to  "The  Land 
Question,"  which  the  book  has  since  carried. 

The  Land  League  organisation  in  the  United  States 
had  since  ParnelFs  change  of  policy  pretty  generally  gone 
to  pieces.  What  remained  was  used  to  push  the  cheap 
editions  of  the  books.  But  a  far  greater  agency  was  found 
in  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labour.  This  organisa- 
tion had  sprung  from  a  local  secret  society  formed  by 
ten  Philadelphia  garment  cutters  in  1869.  ISTot  until  the 
close  of  the  seventies  did  it  assume  great  proportions,  and 
by  1883  it  had  local  assemblies  or  branch  organisations  all 
over  the  country.  Its  more  recent  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples, though  in  some  respects  vague  and  confused,  had 
a  clear  central  purpose — that  of  equal  rights  for  all  and 
special  privileges  to  none.     Its  "fifth  demand"  ran: 

"The  land,  including  all  the  natural  sources  of  wealth, 
is  the  heritage  of  all  the  people,  and  should  not  be  sub- 
ject to  speculative  traffic.  Occupancy  and  use  should 
be  the  only  title  to  the  possession  of  land.  Taxes  upon 
land  should  be  levied  upon  its  fvill  value  for  use,  exclu- 
sive of  improvements,  and  should  be  sufficient  to  take  for 
the  community  all  unearned  increment." 

While  this  had  for  several  years  been  in  the  declara- 
tion of  principles,  nobody  had  paid  much  attention  to 


406  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

it  as  a  practical  idea,  and  it  had  been  allowed  to  lie 
dormant.  But  discussion  of  the  Irish  land  question  had, 
with  other  things,  drawn  attention  to  the  land  question  at 
home;  and  T.  V.  Powderl}^  Grand  Master  Workman, 
made  a  personal  declaration  on  the  question  and  helped 
Mr.  George,  who  had  joined  the  order,  to  get  "Progress 
and  Poverty"  and  "The  Land  Question"  into  the  local 
assemblies.  George  set  high  value  on  this  and  wrote 
Thomas  F.  Walker  of  Birmingham,  England  (April  21)  : 

"I  inclose  you  a  very  significant  clipping.  Powderly 
is  head  of  the  great  organisation  of  the  'Knights  of  La- 
bour.' Up  to  this  he  (as  most  of  the  leaders  of  labour 
organisations)  has  considered  the  land  question  as  of  no 
practical  importance.  His  change  will  have  a  very  im- 
portant effect.  It  is,  moreover,  only  one  indication  of 
the  general  change  that  is  going  on. 

"The  30-cent  edition  of  "^Progress  and  Poverty'  got 
out  in  February  and  is  working  powerfully.  We  are 
gaining  rapidly  in  every  direction.  It  will  not  be  long 
now  before  the  movement  will  show  in  politics." 


Mr.  George  and  his  little  bunch  of  immediate  friends 
in  New  York  at  this  time  started  an  organisation  called 
the  Free  Soil  Society.  Besides  being  fairly  descriptive 
of  their  purpose — to  free  the  soil  from  speculation — the 
name  had  historical  associations,  having  been  used  by  an 
aggressive  anti-slavery  party  before  the  civil  war.  The 
new  organisation  was  federal  in  its  plan,  starting  from 
local  groups.  Louis  F.  Post,  formerly  of  "Truth"  but  now 
returned  to  his  law  practice,  was  president ;  Eev.  R.  Heber 
Newton,  treasurer;  and  Charles  F.  Adams,  a  young  law3^er 
of  brilliant  parts,  secretary;  with  John  P.  Cranford,  a 
prosperous  city  contractor  in  Brooklyn;  T.  L.  McCready, 
A.  J.  Steers,  who  had  given  "Progress  and  Poverty"  to 


Age,  43-44]  FEEE    SOIL    SOCIETY  407 

Dr.  McGlynn;  several  members  of  the  "Irish  World"  -^ 
editorial  staff,  Professor  L.  E.  Wilmarth,  Clinton  Furbish, 
William  McCabe,  John  Beverly  Eobinsou,  and  Henry 
George,  his  wife  (for  women  were  eligible),  his  sons  and 
his  eldest  daughter  were  of  the  first  members.  The  ob- 
ject was  purely  propaganda;  the  method,  all  means  that 
would  promote  thought.  The  society  proved  effective  for 
a  time  in  getting  together  those  who  were  already  per- 
suaded; but  it  brought  in  few  new  people  and  died  a  quiet 
death  before  a  great  while. 

It  resulted,  however,  in  some  informal,  half-past  six 
o'clock  dinners  in  a  small  restaurant  in  the  wholesale  dis- 
trict on  Duane  Street,  jSTew  York,  kept  by  a  Portuguese 
named  Pedro  D.  Beraza.  These  dinners  were  occasional, 
and  talk  was  informal.  Mr.  George,  light-hearted  and 
sanguine  as  a  boy,  generally  sat  at  the  head  of  the  board 
and  passed  a  question  around  to  each  by  turn  when  he 
wanted  an  expression  of  views.  They  were  essentially 
^'experience"  meetings.  ISTor  was  any  allowed  to  pass 
without  delivering  his  personal  testimony  to  the  progress 
of  "the  cause."  In  those  days  small  events  gave  the 
brethren  much  cheer. 

The  thousand  dollars  left  by  Mr.  Shaw  enabled  Mr. 
George  to  commence  early  in  the  year  on  the  cherished 
plan  of  writing  a  book  on  the  tariff  question.  To  James 
McClatchy  of  the  "Sacramento  Bee,"  who  in  some  alarm 
admonished  him  not  to  attempt  too  much,  he  wrote  (March 
28)  :  "Don't  be  afraid  that  I  shall  get  out  of  my  depth.  I 
am  well  conscious  of  the  limits  of  human  effort  of  which 
you  speak,  and  there  is  too  much  in  my  own  line  to  do 
for  me  to  venture  beyond  it.  My  real  purpose  in  treat- 
ing the  tariff  question  is  to  show  workingmen  that  the 
question  is  the  land  question,  and  that  they  are  to  a  great 
extent  wasting  their  efforts  in  barking  up  the  wrong  tree." 


408  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

When  Mr.  George  had  got  well  along  in  the  writing  two 
important  proposals  came  to  him.  One  was  from  Allen 
Thornclike  Eiee,  proprietor  of  the  "North  American  Ee- 
view/'  for  a  political  and  economic  weekly  paper,  to  be 
edited  and  partly  owned  by  George.  The  other  was  for 
a  series  of  signed  articles  for  "Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated 
Newspaper."     He  wrote  Taylor  (March  25)  : 

"As  to  the  paper  negotiations,  they  finally  came  to 
this.  Capitalist  to  put  up  $25,000,  to  take  fifty-five 
shares  of  stock,  I  to  have  forty-five.  I  to  have  control 
and  a  salary  of  seventy-five  dollars  a  week  until  the 
thing  paid,  and  then  a  hundred  dollars  a  week,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  earnings  of  my  stock.  They  wanted  to  start 
on  the  15th  of  May.  After  a  good  deal  of  consideration 
I  refused.  I  think  I  shall  go  into  a  paper,  though, 
about  September  or  October,  and  believe  I  can  make  a 
combination  that  will  assure  success.  This  will  solve 
the  bread  and  butter  question  for  good. 

"In  the  meantime  I  have  made  an  arrangement  to 
write  a  weekly  article  for  thirteen  weeks  for  'Frank  Les- 
lie," the  articles  to  be  two  columns  and  a  half  and  I  to 
get  $100  for  each. 

"My  free-trade  matter  I  think  of  selling  to  a  news- 
paper in  the  same  manner  before  bringing  it  out  in  book 
form." 


So  he  laid  aside  work  on  the  tariff  book  to  write  the 
"Frank  Leslie"  articles.  They  were  intended  by  the 
paper's  managers  to  be  a  counter-attraction,  as  it  were,  to 
a  series  of  articles  just  started  by  "Harper's  Weekly"  from 
the  pen  of  Professor  William  G.  Sumner  of  the  chair  of 
political  economy  at  Yale.  George's  articles  were  to  deal 
Avith  current  social  questions  from  his  own  standpoint, 
under  the  title  of  "Problems  of  the  Time."  His  purpose 
was,  as  he  wrote  in  the  preface  to  their  book  form  after- 
wards, "to  present  the  momentous  social  problems  of  our 


Age,  43-44]  PEOBLEMS  OF   THE  TIME  409 

time,  unencumbered  by  technicalities,  and  without  that 
abstract  reasoning  which  some  of  the  principles  of  po- 
litical economy  require  for  thorough  explanation." 

The  fifth  article  dealt  with  "The  March  of  Concentra- 
tion." It  spoke  of  the  obvious  increase  in  size  of  land 
holdings,  incidentally  stating  that  a  mere  glance  at  the 
United  States  Census  reports  for  1870  and  1880  showed 
that  the  general  figures  utterly  contradicted  the  deduc- 
tions that  the  average  size  of  farms  was  decreasing,  and 
that  the  reports  were,  therefore,  unreliable  and  worthless. 
This  brought  to  the  front  the  man  who  had  superintended 
both  censuses — Professor  Francis  A.  Walker,  who  had 
held  the  chairs  of  political  economy  in  two  colleges  and 
was  author  of  a  text  book  on  the  subject.  In  a  curt  letter 
to  "Frank  Leslie's"  he  offered  if  the  reports  were  not 
clear  to  Mr.  George  to  supply  "a  more  elementary  state- 
ment, illustrated  with  diagrams,"  in  support  of  the  official 
statement  that  the  average  size  of  farms  was  decreasing. 
George  at  once  replied.  Walker  made  a  surrejoinder,  and 
George  a  rebutter,  all  of  which  served  to  show  George's 
keen,  analytical  powers.  The  "ISTew  York  Sun"  in  subse- 
quently reviewing  the  case  said:  "It  is  amusing  because, 
while  there  is  no  lack  of  suavity  and  decorum  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  George,  his  opponent  squirms  and  sputters  as  one 
flagrant  blunder  after  another  is  brought  forward  and  the 
spike  of  logic  is  driven  home  through  his  egregious  falla- 
cies." Nor  was  the  matter  cleared  up  until  the  Census 
Bureau  explained — what  at  the  time  of  the  controversy  it 
had  not  realised — that  the  tables  for  1870  were  based  on 
improved  area  and  those  of  1880  on  total  area,  thus  mak- 
ing Walker's  comparison  of  the  two  censuses  impossible, 
and  proving  George's  charge  of  carelessness.^ 


iSee  "Statistics  of  Agriculture,"  U.  S.   Census  for  1{ 
issued  1883,  p.  xiv. 


410  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

In  the  summer  Mr.  George  put  the  "Leslie"'  articles 
together  with  the  view  to  publication  in  book  form.  He 
made  each  article  a  chapter,  and  added  eight  more  and 
a  conclusion.  He  named  the  book  "Social  Problems"  and 
dedicated  it  to  the  memory  of  Francis  G.  Shaw,  with  the 
quotation  from  Eevelation:  "Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labours;  and  their  works  do  fol- 
low them."  With  the  book  he  printed  as  appendices,  Mr. 
Shaw's  little  tract,  "A  Piece  of  Land";  a  letter  on  "The 
Condition  of  English  Agricultural  Labourers,"  by  William 
Saunders  of  London;  and  the  Walker  Census  controversy. 
The  book  was  j)ut  into  the  hands  of  Belford,  Clarke  &  Co., 
publishers,  of  Xew  York  and  Chicago,  but  was  not  brought 
out  until  January. 

In  April,  1883,  a  proposal  had  come  before  the  New 
York  Legislature  for  the  establishment  of  a  State  Bureau 
of  Labour  Statistics.  Before  the  bill  was  passed — before 
he  had  decided  whether  or  not  he  wanted  it — Mr.  George's 
name  was  urged  by  a  number  of  labour  unions  for  the 
place  of  Commissioner.  But  when  the  bill  creating  the 
Bureau  was  passed.  Governor  Cleveland  appointed  a  polit 
ical  supporter. 

At  the  end  of  July  Mr.  George  wrote  to  Mrs.  Lowell 
in  connection  with  some  other  matters:  "I  have  met  with 
a  loss  that  bites  out  a  big  piece  of  my  work  and  quite 
disarranges  my  calculations  as  to  what  I  should  accom- 
plish. All  the  manuscript  that  I  have  been  making  for  a 
book  to  be  published  this  fall  has  gone — where  I  cannot 
tell,  but  I  presume  into  an  ash  barrel."  It  was  the  free 
trade  book,  and  was  equal  to  about  a  hundred  printed 
pages.  The  family  had  been  boarding  on  Fourteenth 
Street,  near  Seventh  Avenue.  Thence  they  moved  to  a 
furnished  house  on  Hancock  Street,  Brooklyn.  The  manu- 
script was  lost  in  the  Fourteenth  Street  house,  Mr.  George 


Age,  43^]  LOSS   OF   MANUSCRIPT  411 

ultimately  settling  down  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had 
inadvertent^  included  it  in  a  lot  of  waste  papers  that  he 
told  a  servant  to  carry  off  and  destroy.  This  was  a  loss 
in  several  senses.  Taylor  early  in  August  became  his 
confidant. 

"For  past  two  weeks  I  have  been  staying  home  push- 
ing doggedly  at  work.  I  find  there  is  considerable  I 
want  to  add  to  'Social  Problems,"  though  for  my  own 
exigencies  I  should  hurry  it  into  print.  And  I  have 
found  it  hard  to  make  headway.  Writing  well  on  exact 
subjects  is  of  all  work  the  hardest.  Yet  I  should  be  de- 
lighted if  I  could  see  my  way  clear  to  keeping  at  it. 
How  blessed  are  they  for  whom  the  pot  boils  of  itself ! 
I  have  now  just  $25  in  the  world,  about  half  a  week's 
living  with  economy;  no,  not  that.  However,  this  is  no 
new  experience  to  me. 

"That  MS.  is  a  very  serious  loss  even  in  the  financial 
aspect. 

"I  shall  get  out  this  book,  and  I  have  several  other 
things  in  mind. 

"One  suggested  to  me  by  William  Swinton  is  to  take 
Smith's  'Wealth  of  Nations,'  cut  out  the  parts  not 
necessary  to  a  clear  understanding  of  Smith's  economy 
(giving  a  synopsis  of  such  parts),  annotate  it,  and  pub- 
lish at  a  popular  price.  I  have  nearly  finished  a  reading 
— really  the  first  thorough  one  I  ever  gave  the  book — 
with  this  view,  and  think  I  could  make  an  exceedingly 
useful  volume,  rendering  Smith  much  more  intelli- 
gible to  the  general  reader,  and  pointing  where  he  goes 
astray  and  all  his  successors  have  followed  him. 

"What  do  you  think  of  it?  Write  me  how  it  strikes 
you.'  I  would  give  $20  of  my  available  assets  for  a  good 
Saturday  afternoon  talk  with  you." 


As  the  latter  part  of  this  letter  shows,  there  was  no 
sitting  down  for  repining.  And  the  idea  he  threw  out 
for  an  annotated  "Wealth  of  N"ations,"  was  later  on  taken 


412  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

up  and  the  work  begun,  though  more  pressing  things  pre- 
vented it  from  being  carried  forward  any  considerable 
distance,  and  it  was  never  finished. 

That  summer  he  went  with  his  family  and  Louis  F. 
Post  and  family  to  Budd's  Lake  in  New  Jersey  for  a  two 
weeks'  camping  trip,  which  gave  him,  he  told  Taylor, 
"more  of  a  dead  rest,"  than  he  "had  had  for  years."  But 
he  continued  (August  12)  : 

"There  is,  it  seems  to  me,  an  undertone  of  sadness  in 
life  which  engulfs  a  man — at  least  a  thoughtful  man — 
who  does  not  keep  moving.  Pleasure  is  in  action — and 
the  highest  pleasure  in  action  directed  to  large  and  gen- 
erous social  objects. 

"How  it  is  all  passing !  I  have  been  lying  under  the 
trees  thinking  of  that,  and  of  the  infinite  mystery  with 
which  we  are  surrounded.  What  fools  are  these  posi- 
tivists.  Our  positive  knowledge !  More  and  more  cer- 
tain it  seems  to  me  that  this  life  must  be  only  a  stage,  a 
passage.     You  are  right,  conduct  is  the  one  thing." 

The  problem  of  individual  life — it  was  the  constant 
problem  with  Mr.  George  in  the  seasons  of  quietness. 
Yet  the  abstraction  of  the  philosopher  did  not  in  his 
case  work  the  result  so  often  shown  in  history — make  the 
man  on  the  domestic  side  less  attentive  and  tender,  as  wit- 
ness the  note  written  by  the  husband  on  the  night  of 
October  18  for  the  wife  to  find  on  waking  next  morning: 

"It  is  twenty-three  years  ago  to-night  since  we  first 
met — I  only  a  month  or  two  older  than  Harry,  and  you 
not  much  older  than  our  Jen.  For  twenty-three  years  we 
have  been  closer  to  each  other  than  to  any  one  else  in  the 
world,  and  I  think  we  esteem  each  other  more  and  love 
each  other  better  than  when  we  first  began  to  love.  You 
are  now  'fat,  fair  and  forty,'  and  to  me  the  mature 


Age,  43^]  A  LITTLE   LOVE   LETTER  413 

woman  is  handsomer  and  more  lovable  than  the  slip  of 
a  girl  whom  twenty-three  years  ago  I  met  without  know- 
ing that  my  life  was  to  be  bound  up  with  hers.  We  are 
not  rich — so  poor  just  now,  in  fact,  that  all  I  can  give 
you  on  this  anniversary  is  a  little  love  letter;  but  there 
is  no  one  we  can  afford  to  envy,  and  in  each  other's  love 
we  have  what  no  wealth  could  compensate  for.  And  so 
let  us  go  on,  true  and  loving,  trusting  in  Him  to  carry 
us  further  who  has  brought  us  so  far  with  so  little  to 
regret.  For  twenty-three  years  you  have  been  mine  and  I 
have  been  yours,  and  though  twenty-three  years  your 
husband,  I  am  more  than  ever  your  lover." 


Just  as  philosophical  meditations  did  not  draw  him 
into  forgetfulness  of  the  tender  relations  of  his  partner- 
ship, neither  did  his  widening  fame  spoil,  or  in  the  least 
change  him.  The  same  directness  and  simplicity  that 
had  characterised  the  obscure  San  Francisco  editor  now 
distinguished  the  man  whose  book  was  being  read  in  many 
lands.  Take  a  letter  that  he  wrote  to  his  English  friend 
Thomas  F.  Walker  of  Birmingham  regarding  the  British 
Cabinet  Minister,  Joseph  Chamberlain.  Walker  wrote  of 
a  report  that  Chamberlain  "with  one  keen  question  had 
once  'floored'  the  author  of  'Progress  and  Poverty.' " 
Walker  afterwards  found  that  the  report  was  mere  gossip, 
but  at  the  time  George  M^rote  to  him  (March  27)  : 

"As  for  Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  him  once,  dining  at  the  Reform  Club  on  in- 
vitation of  Mr.  Wren  with  Messrs.  Chamberlain  and 
Bright.  If  Mr.  Chamberlain  floored  me  with  one  keen 
question,  I  was  certainly  ignorant  of  the  fact,  and  I 
think  he  is  ignorant  of  it,  too.  Mr.  Bright  left  after 
we  got  through  the  dinner,  about  ten,  and  then  we  three 
adjourned  to  the  smoking  room  and  continued  the  con- 
versation until  midnight.  This  conversation,  which  was 
very  interesting  to  me,  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a  dis- 


414  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

CTission,  and  I  do  not  think  my  views  upon  the  land  ques- 
tion were  even  once  alluded  to,  either  by  me  or  any  one 
else.  I  did  not  attempt  in  any  way  to  impress  my  ideas 
upon  Mr.  Chamberlain.  I  was  too  much  interested  in 
finding  out  what  kind  of  a  man  he  was  and  what  were 
the  opinions  of  the  foremost  English  Badical  leader 
upon  the  general  course  of  English  politics.  We  talked 
mainly  of  the  Irish  question,  the  relation  of  the  Par- 
nellites  and  the  Liberals  (this  was  just  before  the  Kil- 
mainham  Treaty,  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  intimated  that 
something  of  that  kind  was  coming)  and  the  democratic 
feeling  in  England.  Mr.  Chamberlain  said  a  great 
many  things  which  interested  me  very  much.  He  gave 
me  the  English  Kadical  views  of  the  mistakes  of  the 
Irish  Parliamentarians,  and  he  made  a  number  of  very 
keen  observations  upon  the  feeling  of  the  English  peo- 
ple, saying  among  other  things  that  the  great  lower  class 
had  no  ill  feeling  towards  the  aristocracy,  and  looked  on 
the  display  of  wealth  with  admiration  rather  than  envy. 
He  impressed  me  as  a  very  able  man,  who  had  carried 
into  politics  keen  business  sense  and  power  of  combina- 
tion; but  nothing  of  the  reformer.  My  judgment  of 
him  was  that  he  was  an  ambitious  man  who  would  go  as 
far  towards  democracy  as  was  popular,  but  no  farther; 
and  that  if  he  did  not  get  his  locks  shorn  by  the  fasci- 
nations of  aristocratic  society,  might  play  an  important 
part  in  English  politics  in  the  years  to  come.  I  do  not 
think  we  talked  about  principles  of  any  kind — as  to 
whether  anything  was  right  or  wrong.  All  our  talk  was 
of  politics,  the  feelings  of  the  people,  what  might  be  and 
what  might  not  be. 

"As  for  being  floored  with  keen  questions,  I  am  per- 
fectly willing,  if  I  ever  go  to  England  again,  to  go 
into  the  largest  hall  that  can  be  filled  and  to  allow  any 
one  to  put  to  me  what  questions  he  pleases. 

"I  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  views  ad- 
vanced in  'Progress  and  Poverty'  when  I  wrote  it.  I 
came  to  them  slowly  and  carefully,  and  had  tried  them 
by  every  test  that  I  could  apply.  But  I  am  all  the  more 
convinced  since  I  have  seen  how  utterly  impossible  it 


Age,  43-44]  INVITED   TO  ENGLAND  415 

seems  to  be  for  any  one  to  controvert  or  shake  them. 
There  is  not  a  single  one  of  all  the  criticisms  of  'Prog- 
ress and  Poverty'  that  have  yet  appeared  that  I  have 
deemed  even  worth  the  answering.  The  points  they  make 
are  in  all  cases  founded  on  misrepresentation  and  are 
abundantly  answered  in  the  book  itself." 

The  reference  in  this  letter  to  going  to  England  again 
touched  a  subject  on  which  some  of  the  British  friends 
kept  harping.  They  had  much  of  that  implicit  confi- 
dence in  the  cause  that  Henry  George  at  all  times  exhib- 
ited. Some  of  them  had  desired  him  to  remain  there  in 
the  fall  of  1883;  and  when  William  Saunders,  President 
of  the  Central  News  Agency,  crossed  to  the  American 
side  on  a  business  visit  a  few  months  later,  he  offered 
Mr.  George  an  engagement  to  start  a  paper  in  London, 
which  however  George  refused.  Later  still  James  C.  Du- 
rant  wrote  that  a  lecturing  campaign  through  England 
and  Scotland  could  be  arranged,  and  this  was  followed 
by  a  formal  letter  from  K.  P.  B.  Frost,  Secretary  of  the 
Land  Keforni  Union,  inviting  him  to  speak  under  its 
auspices  and  guaranteeing  his  expenses,  with  prospect  of 
some  profits,  for  he  was  known  to  depend  upon  constant 
exertions  for  a  living.  Mr.  George  thought  this  a  great 
chance  to  push  the  work.  He  concluded  that  he  would 
embrace  it  so  soon  as  he  had  "Social  Problems"  off  his 
hands  and  an  article  for  the  "ISTorth  American  Eeview."  ^ 

With  a  feeling  of  natural  pride  his  thoughts  ran  from 
the  fame  he  was  getting  in  the  world  to  the  old  folks  at 
Philadelphia,  the  father  nearing  the  completion  of  his 
eighty-fifth  year;  the  mother,  in  her  seventy-third  year. 
On  the  eve  of  his  father's  birthday,  the  son  wrote  a  letter 
inclosing  a  little  present  and  telling  about  the  books,  the 

1  "Over-production,"  "North  American  Review,"  December,  1883. 


416  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1863 

English  friends  and  tlie  lectures,  to  which  came  the  reply 
(October  17)  : 

"Yesterday  was  the  anniversary  of  my  birthday. 
Time  goes  quickly  with  Old  Dad.  I  was  expecting 
something  from  my  children  and  the  postman  brought 
six  letters  for  me. 

"By-gone  days  come  back  to  me  as  if  it  was  only  last 
week  when  you  came  to  me  saying  that  you  would  go  to 
California  and  that  you  would  try  your  fortune  there. 
I  did  not  object ;  and  now  the  result  has  been  all  I  could 
have  wished. 

"And  then  when  I  opened  the  letters  from  your  dear 
wife  and  children  I  broke  down.  The  old  parental  heart 
gave  way  and  burst." 

This  was  the  last  letter  E.  S.  H.  George  wrote  to  his 
son.  Within  a  few  days  he  was  prostrated  with  pneu- 
monia and  on  the  26th  died.  He  was  conscious  until  al- 
most the  last  and  contemplated  approaching  dissolution 
with  a  serene  mind.  He  had  all  of  his  children  at  his 
bedside  and  he  blessed  each  by  turn,  with  their  marriage 
partners  and  children.  He  had,  he  said,  been  favoured 
above  the  average.  The  Scriptures  set  man's  allotted  days 
at  three  score  and  ten;  his  had  been  above  four  score. 
He  had  had  for  the  most  part  a  peaceful,  happy  life;  and 
Providence  had  sent  him  many  loving  children.  He  was 
now  ready,  he  said,  to  be  gathered  to  his  fathers.  And 
thus  like  a  patriarch  of  old  passed  Richard  Samuel  Henry 
George.  His  wife,  weakened  by  grief,  was  seized  with  in- 
flammation of  the  stomach,  and  of  this  died  one  week 
after  her  husband,  and  was  buried  in  the  same  grave  with 
him  in  Mt.  Maria  Cemetery,  Philadelphia. 

They  had  died  when  their  son,  Henry,  was  getting,  so 
far  as  they  could  see  from  the  quiet  Philadelphia  home, 
as  much  blame  as  praise  from  the  world.     "Progress  and 


Age,  43-44] 


DEATH  OF  PARENTS  417 


Poverty"  had  come  too  late  for  them.  The  father  read 
it,  and  pride  of  his  son's  valiant  courage  and  high  pur- 
pose filled  his  heart.  He  saw  at  once  that  it  was  based 
upon  justice  and  equality,  and  he  pronounced  it  a  great 
book.  But  he  was  in  his  eightieth  year  when  it  was 
j)rinted.  He  was  living  in  the  past;  he  did  not  give 
enough  heed  to  the  pressing,  struggling  world  about  him  to 
see  the  full  purpose  and  strength  of  the  book.  It  was  the 
brave,  sturdy  son  that  he  thought  of,  rather  than  of  the 
son's  book.  And  to  the  mother,  the  son  had  been  still 
the  child,  to  be  encouraged  and  guided  in  the  moral  ways. 
"I  am  too  old  to  read  the  book,"  she  said  when  it  came; 
and  though  a  calm  smile  overspread  her  face  at  the  sound 
of  the  public  applause  of  her  son,  it  was  sweeter  to  her 
devout  mind  to  have  him  join  the  morning  prayers  when 
the  father  read  as  of  yore  from  the  Scriptures;  or  to  have 
him  sit  with  her  and  the  family  in  old  St.  Paul's  and 
listen  to  the  preaching  of  the  Blessed  Word. 

"Their  deaths  were  as  beautiful  as  their  lives,"  Henry 
George  wrote  to  Dr.  Taylor;  and  death  seemed  much 
nearer  to  him  than  before.  Yet  he  did  not  shrink.  His 
heart's  most  precious  desire  was  at  last  safe.  "Yes,  I 
could  die  now,"  he  exclaimed  one  day  as  he  was  crossing 
Broadway  with  his  son,  Kichard.  The  street  was  clear 
for  the  moment.  He  had  stopped  short  in  the  middle  of 
the  roadway  and  spoke  as  if  musing,  his  eyes  turned  up- 
ward, as  though  intently  regarding  the  building  tops. 
"Why  do  you  say  that?"  asked  the  son  in  amazement. 
The  question  brought  the  father  out  of  his  reverie  with 
a  start.  "I  was  thinking,"  he  answered,  walking  to  the 
sidewalk,  "that  I  could  die  now  and  the  work  would  go 
on.  It  no  longer  depends  upon  one  man.  It  is  no  longer 
a  'Henry  George'  movement — a  one-man  movement.  It  is 
the  movement  of  many  men  in  many  lands.     I  can  help 


418  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1882-1883 

it  while   I   live;  but   my  death  could  not   stop   it.     The 
Great  Revolution  has  begun." 

But  if  he  felt  this  way,  his  friends  in  the  cause  felt  that 
there  was  need  of  his  fiery  zeal  everywhere.  So  that  in 
answer  to  the  increasing  calls  from  England  he  set  sail 
four  days  before  Christmas  ^vith  his  son,  Harry,  on  the 
City  of  Richmond  of  the  Inman  Line.  As  when  a  boy 
on  his  first  voyage  before  the  mast,  he  entered  in  his  pocket 
diary,  "East  wind  and  smooth  sea." 


CHAPTEK  VI. 
BEITISH    LECTUEE    CAMPAIGN. 

1884.  Age,  45. 

THE  scenes  into  which  Mr.  George  was  hurrying  ex- 
ceeded his  fondest  wishes.  Next  to  Gladstone,  he 
was  at  the  moment  the  most  talked  of  man  in  England. 
This  was  chiefly  because  more  than  forty  thousand  copies 
of  the  sixpenny  edition  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  had 
been  sold.  The  book  was  the  burning  theme.  It  en- 
gaged the  critical  reviews  and  the  newspapers;  it  entered 
into  lectures,  debates  and  mock  parliaments.  It  had 
stormed  the  redoubts  of  conservatism — the  great  seats  of 
learning.  Et.  Hon.  Henry  Fawcett,  M.P.,  Postmaster- 
General  and  Professor  of  Political  Economy  at  Cambridge, 
had  grappled  with  the  book^s  chief  proposal  and  after- 
wards incorporated  his  views  in  his  "Manual  of  Political 
Economy."  For  Oxford  spoke  one  of  its  professors,  Ar- 
nold Toynbee,  M.A.,  a  young  man  of  high  character  and 
brilliant  parts,  who  in  two  lectures  before  fashionable 
West  End  London  audiences  essayed  to  answer  the  book.^ 

1  Mr.  Toynbee  died  of  brain  fever  soon  after  these  lectures.  Failure  to 
carry  conviction  to  all  those  present,  and  especially  to  some  socialists  who 
made  rude  and  noisy  opposition,  is  believed  to  have  preyed  on  the  in- 
tense, sensitive,  high-purposed  mind,  until  chagrin  indiiced  the  fatal 
fever.  The  lectures  were  published  after  his  death  by  his  close  friend, 
Sir* Alfred  Miluer. 

419 


420  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i884 

So  wide  had  become  the  interest  in  it,  that  timid  Privi- 
lege grew  alarmed  and  the  landlord  "Liberty  and  Property 
Defense  League,"  through  Lord  Bramwell,  one  of  its 
council,  made  a  furious  attack;  while  the  "Edinburgh  Ee- 
view"  linked  Herbert  Spencer's  "Social  Statics"  with 
"Progress  and  Poverty"  in  a  common  condemnation,  and 
brought  from  the  English  philosopher  his  first  indirect 
denial  of  the  truth  he  had  proclaimed  in  the  unequivocal 
words  that  "the  right  of  mankind  at  large  to  the  earth's 
surface  is  still  valid;  all  deeds,  customs  and  laws  not- 
withstanding."^ 

And  well  might  the  special  interests  take  alarm.  Not 
only  had  no  work  on  political  economy  excited  such  gen- 
eral attention,  but  no  book  of  the  kind  had  ever  struck 
so  boldly  at  the  mother  of  vested  rights — private  property 
in  land.  "Abolition,  without  compensation,"  was  the  cry. 
A  fleeting  curiosity  in  an  audacious  and  brilliantly  writ- 
ten work  might  perhaps  account  for  its  circulation  among 
the  educated  classes ;  but  how  explain  its  popularity  among 
the  labouring  masses  who  could  rarely  afford  to  buy  or  find 
time  or  inclination  to  read  a  book  of  any  kind?  Yet  cer- 
tain it  was  that  literature  could  furnish  no  precedent  for 
the  way  this  book  was  going  the  rounds  of  workin;; 
men's  unions,  clubs  and  societies;  and  indications  were 
not  wanting  that  its  sentiments  with  time  must  crystal- 
lise political  and  social  discontent  among  the  file  leaders 
of  the  all-pervading  army  of  the  poor  and  rouse  a  demand 
not  to  be  satisfied  with  the  trifling  reforms  that  hitherto 
had  been  conferred  with  much  show  and  condescension. 

True,  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Prime  Minister,  Mr. 

1  "  Social  Statics,"  p.  134.  Spencer  made  his  denial  in  a  letter  to  a 
London  Tory  newspaper,  "  St.  James's  Gazette."  Referring  to  this  Spencer 
letter,  George  at  the  time  wrote  Taylor:  "Spencer  is  going  the  way  of 
Coiute  —  going  insane  from  vanity. " 


Age,  45]        GEORGE  ON  ALL  TONGUES  421 

Gladstone,  had  pronounced  as  "in  form  and  substance  the 
best  answer  to  George,"  an  address  delivered  by  the  Gov- 
ernment Statistician,  Eobert  Giffen,  who  proved  by  fig- 
ures the  "progress  of  the  working  classes  in  the  last  cen- 
tury." But  on  the  other  hand,  those  missionaries  among 
the  miserably  poor,  the  Congregational  Union,  gave  voice 
to  "the  bitter  cry  of  outcast  London"  in  a  pamphlet  that 
showed  with  startling  vividness  that  a  vast  part  of  the 
population  lived  in  homes  "compared  with  which  the  lair 
of  a  wild  beast  would  be  a  comfortable  and  healthy  spot"; 
while  the  "Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  helped  by  the  Salvation 
Army,  soon  afterwards  revealed  indubitably  the  existence 
of  a  horrible  traffic  in  young  girls.  Even  so-called  Eadi- 
cal  leaders  could  see  what  might  come.  "If  something  is 
not  done  quickly  to  meet  the  growing  necessities  of  the 
case,"  cried  the  Kt.  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  "we  may 
live  to  see  theories  as  wild  and  methods  as  unjust  as  those 
suggested  by  the  American  economist  adopted  as  the  creed 
of  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  electorate."^  Cham- 
berlain, like  a  shrewd  politician,  had  his  ear  to  the  ground. 
Nor  did  he  overlook  the  subsequent  fact  that  a  typical 
English  audience  crowded  into  St.  James's  Hall,  in  West 
End  London,  late  in  December  to  hear  the  Irish  patriot, 
Michael  Davitt,  lecture  on  "The  Land  for  the  People" 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Land  Eeform  Union.  As  Mr. 
Chamberlain  said:  social  reform  was  in  the  air. 

It  was  on  the  last  day  of  December  (1883)  that  Henry 
George  arrived  in  Liverpool.  He  was  met  by  Davitt  and 
Eichard  McGhee,  of  Glasgow.  Davitt  was  now  without 
let  or  hindrance  preaching  the  doctrine  of  land  nation- 
alisation and  paying  no  more  attention  to  the  Parnellites 

1,"  Laborers'  and  Artisans'  Dwellmgs,"  by  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain, 
"Fortnightly  Review,"  December,  1883. 


422  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1884 

(who  for  the  time  were  in  eclipse)  than  to  those  physical- 
force  men,  who  were  trying  dynamite  explosions  in  Eng- 
land as  a  means  of  compelling  public  recognition  of  Irish 
claims.  After  stopping  ofE  over  night  at  Birmingham  to 
consult  with  Thomas  F.  Walker,  who  had  been  distribut- 
ing "Progress  and  Poverty"  extensively  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Liberal  Association,  the  political  sponsors  for 
Joseph  Chamberlain  and  John  Bright,  Mr.  George  went 
up  to  London;  which  however  he  left  again,  to  make 
a  formal  entry  on  Sunday  afternoon,  January  6,  when 
he  was  received  just  outside  Euston  Station  by  a  con- 
course of  labour  organisations;  and  from  the  top  of  a 
four-wheel  cab  he  made  a  short  speech,  thanking  them  for 
their  welcome  and  explaining  the  j)urpose  of  his  coming. 
The  conspicuous  movers  in  the  Land  Eeform  Union 
were  William  Saunders,  Miss  Helen  Taylor,  Thomas  F. 
Walker,  Eev.  S.  D.  Headlam,  James  Durant,  Rev.  Phillip 

A.  Wicksteed,  Richard  McGhee,  Thomas  Briggs,  Dr.  Gavin 

B.  Clark,  H.  H.  Champion,  R.  P.  B.  Frost,  J.  L.  Joynes, 
Rev.  J.  E.  Symes  and  William  Reeve,  the  publisher. 
These  and  others  made  up  a  fund  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  George  campaign,  for,  unlike  the  custom  of  pay- 
lectures  in  the  United  States,  most  lectures  in  Great  Brit- 
ain are  delivered  practically  free,  only  a  few  front  seats 
being  charged  for  and  reserved.  Arrangement  had  been 
made  for  George  to  lecture  in  most  of  the  important  cities 
and  towns  of  Great  Britain,  the  campaign  to  be  opened 
in  St.  James's  Hall,  London,  on  January  9. 

But  before  he  opened  the  course,  Mr.  George  had  to 
settle  two  important  questions.  The  first  affected  his  at- 
titude towards  socialism.  Mr.  Champion,  the  treasurer, 
and  Mr.  Frost,  the  secretary  of  the  Land  Reform  Union, 
were  in  reality  not  wholly  in  harmony  with  the  individ- 
nalism  of  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  but  believed  rather  in 


Age,  45]  BRUSH   WITH   SOCIALISTS  423 

the  collectivism  of  Karl  Marx,  who  had  a  few  months 
before  died  in  London  after  a  long  residence  there.  These 
two  men,  with  one  or  two  others,  waited  on  Mr.  George 
and  plainly  said  that  if  he  did  not  make  the  socialistic 
programme  part  of  his  own  and  call  for  nationalisation  of 
capital,  including  all  machinery,  the  socialists  would  be 
compelled  to  oppose  his  campaign.  Mr.  George  replied 
with  some  sharpness  that  he  had  come  across  the  sea  on 
invitation  of  the  Land  Eeform  Union  to  lecture  on  the 
principles  with  which  his  name  was  identified  and  no 
others;  that  his  principles  were  clearly  explained  in  his 
books;  and  that  the  socialists  could  support  or  oppose, 
as  they  pleased.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Champion  and  Frost 
made  no  further  objection  and  quietly  acquiesced  in 
George's  plans,  but  men  like  Hyndman  at  the  head  of  the 
socialistic  movement  per  se  made  covert  opposition. 

The  other  question  for  settlement  was  as  to  "confisca- 
tion."^ This  was  the  most  common  objection  to  the  George 
proposal,  and  even  some  of  the  members  of  the  Land  Ee- 
form Union  urged  him  to  be  as  mild  as  possible  and  to 
say  nothing  against  compensation  to  landlords,  for,  said 
they,  the  English  nation  will  never  consent  to  take  prop- 
erty from  the  landlords  without  paying  for  it.  His  an- 
swer to  them  was  short  and  clear.  The  land  of  right  be- 
longed  to   all   the   people,   or   it  belonged   to   those   who 

1  August  Lewis  on  this  point  says  :  "  In  a  conversation  with  Mr.  George 
one  day,  I  said  :  '  Thomas  G.  Shearman  thinks  that  it  was  a  gi-ave  error 
and  a  great  detriment  to  the  progress  of  the  movement  that  the  word 
"confiscation"  should  ever  have  been  used.  You  shouhl  liave  called  it 
instead  the  gradual  absorption  of  rent.  Wliat  is  your  opinion  about  that  ? 
Would  you  avoid  the  term  "confiscation"  were  you  to  write  "Progress 
and  Poverty  "  to-day  ? '  His  face  assumed  a  sort  of  a  troiibled  and  dis- 
pleased expression,  and  he  said  :  '  I  don't  know  what  I  should  do  to-day  ; 
but  when  I  wrote  the  book,  I  was  not  in  the  humour  to  have  much  con- 
sideration for  anybody's  feelings.' " 


424  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [i884 

called  themselves  landlords.  If  it  belonged  to  the  land- 
lords, they  might  do  what  they  pleased  with  their  own; 
and  no  one  could  have  basis  for  complaint.  If  it  be- 
longed to  all  the  people,  then  it  should  be  restored  at  once ; 
nor  could  they  in  justice  be  called  upon  to  pay  one  penny 
for  getting  back  what  was  of  right  theirs.  To  give  com- 
pensation, would  be  to  concede  the  landlords'  right  of 
title.  He  himself  did  not  want  confiscation — he  wanted 
to  stop  confiscation — to  stop  those  who  called  themselves 
landlords  from  taking  rent,  which  did  not  belong  to  them, 
and  to  give  it  to  the  community  to  which  it  did  belong, 
which  he  proposed  to  do  by  means  of  taxation.  However, 
he  said  he  would  tell  his  audience  that  they  could  com- 
pensate if  they  pleased,  but  that  he  did  not  think  it  would 
be  just  to  do  so.  Thus  Mr.  George  had  to  contend 
with  two  sets  of  his  own  supporters  before  he  met  the 
common  enemy.  But  he  hesitated  no  more  with  the  one 
than  with  the  other. 

As  showing  the  habits  and  temperament  of  the  man,  it 
may  be  interesting  to  note  the  way  he  prepared  himself 
for  what  he  believed  was  to  be  the  most  important  address 
in  the  tour — the  lecture  in  St.  James's  Hall.  Most  of 
the  day  before  he  kept  to  his  lodgings  near  Russell  Square 
thinking  out  the  line  of  his  discourse,  which  was  to  be 
on  the  subject  of  "Progress  and  Poverty."  Slowly  and 
with  labour  he  dictated  to  his  son.  In  the  afternoon  he 
sent  for  another  stenographer  and  worked  late  into  the 
evening  alternately  with  the  two  writers.  In  this  way  he 
used  his  son  up  and  sent  him  off  to  bed,  continuing  with 
the  other  shorthand  writer.  Early  next  morning  when 
the  son  waked  he  found  that  his  father  had  been  up  and  at 
work  betimes.  The  father  announced,  somewhat  to  the 
young  man's  dismay,  that  he  had  cast  aside  all  the  work 
of  the  day  before  and  that  since  rising  he  had  commenced 


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From  Loiidou  photograph  takeu  duriug  leetui-e  tour  of  1883  -4. 


Age,  45]  ST.  JAMES'S  HALL  SPEECH  425 

on  a  new,  and  the  true,  line.  Proceeding  along  this  new 
line,  Mr.  George  dictated  to  his  son  and  the  other  sten- 
ographer who  was  again  called  in,  all  that  day,  except 
when  interrupted  by  members  of  the  committee.  He  was 
in  fact  busy  almost  up  to  the  moment  when  the  committee 
called  to  conduct  him  to  the  hall.  Then  there  was  a  scram- 
ble to  get  papers  together,  to  dress  and  get  off.  And  the 
upshot  of  it  all  was  that  the  notes  were  not  used,  for  only 
in  main  points  and  general  sequence  of  ideas  was  that 
which  was  delivered  like  that  which  had  been  dictated 
with  so  much  labour. 

The  great  hall  was  packed;  every  seat  and  every  foot  of 
available  standing  room  was  filled.  The  platform  even 
was  crowded,  mostly  with  members  of  the  Union,  and 
Michael  Davitt  conspicuous.  All  classes  and  vocations  were 
represented  there — nobles  and  commoners,  men  noted  in 
politics,  literature,  the  ministry  and  the  professions,  or 
leading  in  the  world  of  manual  labour.  Ill  health  prevented 
John  Kuskin  from  presiding  or  even  attending,  but  Henry 
Labouchere,  M.P.,  editor  of  "Truth,"  filled  the  chair  with 
capital  effect.  He  said  that  the  country  had  in  the  last 
two  centuries  four  Georges  who  had  meddled  with  and 
muddled  public  affairs.  Xow  came  George  the  Fifth  who 
did  not  wear  a  crown,  but  who  came  with  keen  intelli- 
gence and  a  generous  impulse — a  man  whose  sympathies 
were  with  the  poor  and  lowly,  instead  of  with  the  high 
and  mighty. 

Just  before  rising  Mr.  George  whispered  to  his  friend, 
Thomas  F.  Walker:  "If  I  speak  too  long,  pull  my  coat- 
tail.  I  have  the  habits  of  a  writer,  rather  than  those  of 
a  speaker.  When  I  get  thinking,  ideas  come  with  a  rush; 
so  that  when  I  am  on  my  feet  I  lose  the  sense  of  time." 
But  Mr.  Walker  forgot  the  suggestion  in  the  charm  of  the 
finished  address.     The  pre-eminent  qualities   of  the  lee- 


426  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [i884 

ture  were  sincerit}'  and  confidence.  As  in  California  he 
had  said  to  the  early  California  reviewer  that  "when  a 
man  has  so  thoiight  out  and  tested  his  opinions  that 
they  have  in  his  mind  the  highest  certainty,  it  would  be 
but  affectation  for  him  to  assume  doubts  he  does  not  feel," 
so  now,  as  he  stood  up  before  the  great  and  distinguished 
audience  in  the  capital  of  the  world,  he  had  that  dead  cer- 
tainty of  air,  which,  accompanied  by  a  direct,  sympa- 
thetic manner,  a  flow  of  clear  language,  a  logical  order, 
quick  response  and  complete  command  of  the  subject,  cap- 
tivated his  listeners,  and  caused  the  arch  Tory  newspaper, 
"The  Standard,"'  next  morning  to  say  sarcastically:  "He 
is  perfectly  simple  and  straightforward;  a  man  with  a 
mission;  born  to  set  right  in  a  single  generation  the  errors 
of  six  thousand  years." 

The  climax  of  the  lecture  was  reached  when  Mr.  George 
said  that  charity  could  not  lift  the  poor  of  London  from 
the  misery  and  squalor  of  the  slums — that  resort  must  be 
made  to  justice.  Cheers  interrupted,  and  a  voice  cried: 
"Who  brought  them  into  the  world?"  "God  Almighty, 
in  my  opinion,"  cried  the  lecturer,  electrifying  his  audi- 
ence; "and  whom  God  Almighty  brings  into  the  world 
who  shall  dare  to  put  out?" 

Justice,  he  went  on  to  say,  compelled  the  returning  of 
the  land  to  the  people  without  cost — but  if  doing  this 
should  work  a  hardship  upon  some — the  helpless  widow, 
for  instance — whose  case  was  constantly  being  brought 
forward — he  would  favour  some  provision  for  that.  Sta- 
tistics showed  some  two  hundred  thousand  widows  in  Eng- 
land of  all  kinds  and  ages.  Every  widow,  from  the  lady 
who  sat  on  the  throne  down  to  the  poorest  labourer's 
widow,  could  receive,  not  as  a  matter  of  charity,  but  as 
a  matter  of  justice,  a  pension  of  £100  a  year  Laughter, 
cheers  and  some  hissing  followed  this,  and  the  Tory  papers 


Age,  45]  A  SPARK  TO  GUNPOWDER  427 

next  day  denounced  George  for  disrespect  to  the  Queen. 
In  response  to  calls  at  the  close  of  the  lecture,  Michael 
Davitt  made  a  short,  spirited  speech,  thus  again  publicly 
associating  himself  with  Henry  George. 

The  London  lecture  was  to  the  press  throughout  the 
three  kingdoms  like  a  spark  to  gunpowder.  Mr.  George 
wrote  to  his  wife,  "I  can't  begin  to  send  you  the  papers 
in  which  I  am  discussed,  attacked  and  commented  on,  for 
I  would  have  to  send  all  the  English,  Scottish  and  Irish 
press.  I  am  getting  advertised  to  my  heart's  content, 
and  I  shall  have  crowds  wherever  I  go.  ...  I  could 
be  a  social  lion  if  I  would  permit  it.  But  I  won't  fool 
with  that  sort  of  thing." 

The  new  book  "Social  Problems,"  British  rights  to  which 
the  author  sold  to  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co.,  was  now 
out  in  various  editions;  and  this,  with  his  former  books, 
was  to  be  seen  on  every  bookstall  of  any  pretensions  in 
the  British  Islands.  He  had  received  £400  for  "Social 
Problems,"  which  he  sent  home  to  pay  some  debts  in  New 
York  and  California. 

The  first  provincial  lectures  were  at  Plymouth  on  the 
15th  and  Cardiff  on  the  16th  of  January,  touching  both 
of  which  Mr.  George  wrote  Mr.  Walker  of  Birmingham, 
from  Cardiff:  "My  lectures  both  at  Plymouth  and  here 
were,  I  think,  telling  successes."  Then  relative  to  "con- 
fiscation," he  said : 

"I  believe  I  am  wise  in  taking  the  advance  ground 
clearly  and  plainly.  No  matter  how  moderate  I  had 
been,  there  would  have  been  precisely  the  same  denun- 
ciation. The  real  cause  of  this  is  that  the  land-owning 
classes  begin  to  realise  the  danger,  not  any  particular 
thing  I  say. 

"The  advance,  whatever  it  may  be,  will  draw  the  fire ; 
and  I  am  doing  a  service  to  more  moderate  men  in  draw- 


428  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [i884 

ing  that  fire  so  much  ahead  of  the  ground  they  occupy. 
It  will  make  them  seem  and  feel  quite  moderate. 

"As  for  your  Radicals  who  have  got  into  a  flurry, 
don't  mind  that.  In  a  very  short  time  they  will  rally 
again.  In  a  few  months  from  now  you  will  see  many 
of  the  men  who  are  now  so  fearful  of  confiscation  openly 
avowing  themselves  'confiscators.' 

"The  Tory  press  are  doing  our  work.  They  will  do 
more  for  us  than  we  could  by  any  exertion  do  for 
ourselves." 


A  fortnight  afterwards  George  wrote  to  Walker:  "The 
thing  to  do  is  for  you  to  pose  as  a  compensationist,  and 
me  as  a  confiscationist,  just  as  Snap  &  Gobble  join  differ- 
ent churches.  With  you  and  Miss  Taylor  representing 
the  conservative  wing,  the  landlords  may  well  ask  to  be 
preserved  from  their  friends."^ 

After  Cardiff,  Mr.  George  spoke  in  Bristol  and  Bir- 
mingham. The  Birmingham  "Owl"  said  of  the  latter 
lecture : 

"It  was  a  magnificent  audience  that  gathered  to  hear 
Henr}'^  George,  and  one  which  gave  forth  no  uncertain 
sound.  It  was  one  of  the  most  unanimous  and  enthu- 
siastic audiences  I  have  seen  in  town  for  years.     When 

1  While  on  a  visit  to  Birmingham,  Mr.  George,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Walker,  Edward  McHugh,  lecture  agent  for  the  Land  Reform  Union,  and 
young  George,  went  to  hear  Miss  Helen  Taylor  address  a  big  working 
men's  meeting  at  Smethmck,  a  suburb.  As  they  entered  the  hall  she 
had  reached  the  compensation  point  in  her  address  and  said  in  substance : 
"Compensation?  Yes,  I  am  in  favour  of  compensation  to  the  landlords. 
And  this  can  be  easily  arranged.  First  let  the  landlords  pay  to  the  na- 
tion the  back  taxes  of  four  shillings  in  the  pound  on  the  actual  value  of 
their  land  from  the  time  of  Charles  IL  —  from  which  time  they  have  been 
paying  little  or  nothing  —  and,  moreover,  let  them  pay  to  the  nation  in- 
terest and  compound  interest  on  the  money  thus  withheld,  and  then  out 
of  this  great  fund  we  can  compensate  the  present  individual  cases."  Mr. 
George  joined  heartily  in  the  general  laughter  and  applauded  vigorously. 


Age,  45]  TABOOED  BY   POLITICIANS  429 

Mr.  George  first  came  forward  the  cheering  was  tre- 
mendous. And  again,  when,  after  a  portrayal  of  the 
evils  consequent  on  the  present  state  of  things,  the  lec- 
turer asked  'Was  it  not  time  that  a  missionary  came  from 
somewhere  ?'  the  applause  was  deafening,  as  the  crowded 
audience  recognised  and  accepted  the  missionary  in 
Henry  George." 

Hard  upon  the  London  lecture,  the  official  Liberals  had 
followed  suit  of  the  Tory  and  Parnellite  parties,  and 
tabooed  George.  Evidence  of  this  was  given  in  each  place 
where  he  spoke;  but  it  was  most  marked  in  Liverpool, 
where  he  appeared  on  January  25.  The  Junior  Keform 
Club,  which  had  invited  him  to  be  its  guest  at  dinner, 
withdrew  the  invitation;  Mr.  Samuel  Smith,  M.P.,  a 
wealthy  and  distinguished  citizen  of  Liverpool,  who  had 
spent  much  in  public  benevolence,  delivered  a  set  lecture 
against  the  American;  and  the  papers  were  united  in 
condemnation.  So  that,  although  a  large  audience  gath- 
ered in  the  Eotunda  to  hear  the  radical  land  reformer, 
the  customary  platform  support  had  to  be  dispensed  with. 
He  wrote  to  Walker: 

"My  lecture  here  was  a  victory  that  would  have  done 
your  heart  good.  The  set  against  me  in  Birmingham 
was  nothing  to  the  set  against  me  here.  Poor  Jackson, 
on  whom  all  arrangements  devolved,  seemed  utterly 
demoralised.  .  .  .  He  had  not  ventured  to  send  out 
any  complimentary  tickets — said  no  clergyman  or  man 
of  note  would  accept  one.  Not  a  soul  was  to  go  on  the 
stage  with  me  save  Dr.  Cummins,  M.P. ;  and  I  urged 
him  not  to,  but  he  insisted  that  he  would.  Samuel 
Smith's  relatives  and  family  were  in  the  audience,  which 
was  evidently  largely  in  sympathy  with  him,  and  warmly 
applauded  liis  name  when  I  mentioned  it.  But  the  con- 
sciousness of  opposition,  which  always  rouses  me,  gave 
me  the  stimulus  I  needed  to  overcome  physical  weakness, 


430  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [i884 

for  I  was  in  bad  trim  from  loss  of  sleep,  and  I  carried 
the  audience  with  me,  step  by  step,  till  you  never  saw  a 
more  enthusiastic  crowd.  Jackson  has  told  me  since 
that  he  believed  organised  opposition  had  been  planned; 
but  that  before  I  got  to  the  place  where  they  could  object 
I  had  the  audience,  and  the  fuglemen  left  in  disgust. 
At  the  close  I  called  for  a  vote  on  compensation,  and 
there  were  only  three  hands  held  up  against  it — two 
of  which  Jackson  afterwards  told  me  were  those  of  land 
speculators.  A  rush  was  made  for  the  platform  as  soon 
as  I  got  through,  and  I  could  not  get  away  for  some 
time  for  the  handshaking.  Of  the  effects  at  the  time 
there  could  be  no  doubt,  and  I  hear  of  the  most  grati- 
fying effects  upon  those  who  did  not  go." 


The  Liverpool  "Post"  next  day  said  editorially:  "Mr. 
George's  lecture  in  Liverpool  last  night  had  all  the  sweet 
and  seductive  beauty  which  has  stolen  away  the  judgment 
of  many  a  reader  of  his  famous  book.  .  .  .  He  appa- 
rently has  convinced  a  large  number  of  persons  that  thiev- 
ing is  no  theft,  for  his  great  audience  last  night  pro- 
nounced unanimously  in  favour  of  appropriating  the  land 
of  the  country  and  giving  the  present  owners  no  com- 
pensation." 

But  if  Mr.  George  was  making  conquests,  his  oppo- 
nents were  not  idle,  the  most  conspicuous  among  them 
being  Frederic  Harrison,  the  Positivist,  and  John  Bright. 
After  George  had  spoken  in  Birmingham,  Bright  made  a 
speech  there  on  "the  most  extraordinary,  the  greatest,  the 
wildest,  the  most  remarkable"  social  proposition  "im- 
ported lately  by  an  American  inventor."  George  read 
Bright's  speech  in  Scotland,  whence  he  wrote  Walker 
(Dundee,  February  3)  : 

"I  can  fancy  your  disgust  if  you  heard  Mr.  Bright. 
The  old  man  is  utterly  ignorant  of  what  he  is  talking 


Age,  45]  BRIGHT  AND  HARRISON  431 

about.  If  John  Bright  would  meet  me  on  the  phitform 
and  discuss  the  matter,  I  would  be  glad  of  the  oppor- 
tunity. If  you  think  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  do, 
write  to  him  to  that  effect. 

"Frederic  Harrison  is  lecturing  against  me.  Has 
delivered  two  lectures  in  Edinburgh,  and  lectures  again 
to-night  at  JSTewcastle.  His  is  the  very  craziness  of 
opposition,  if  I  can  judge  by  the  reports. 

"We  are  certainly  getting  the  animals  stirred  up,  and 
before  the  Liberals  know  it  will  have  the  Eadical  rank 
and  file,  no  matter  what  may  become  of  their  leaders. 
I  am  glad  it  was  Bright  and  not  Chamberlain  that  came 
out  against  us — not  that  I  care  for  any  one's  opposition, 
but  that  I  am  glad  that  he  has  not  taken  a  stand  which 
might  injure  his  future  usefulness." 

Mr.  George's  confidence  of  getting  the  "Radical  rank 
and  file"  came  not  only  from  what  he  had  seen  in  Eng- 
land, but  from  what  he  was  observing  in  Scotland,  which 
he  had  entered  after  lecturing  in  Bolton  and  ISTewcastle. 

If  England  had  discontent  among  her  slum  population 
to  make  her  ripe  for  the  consideration  of  the  land  ques- 
tion, so  Scotland  had  her  own  condition,  perhaps  more  di- 
rectly traceable  to  the  land  problem.  Two  years  pre- 
viously the  crofters  in  the  Western  Island  of  Skye,  had 
centred  attention  by  resisting,  for  a  time  with  force,  the 
inclosure,  by  a  large  land-owner,  of  a  piece  of  land  that 
had  been  a  common  grazing  ground  from  time  immemo- 
rial. Physical  resistance  was  put  down  only  when  the 
crofters  had  been  brutally  clubbed  by  a  body  of  police 
sent  up  from  Glasgow  for  the  purpose.  Public  opinion 
sided  strongly  with  the  peasants,  and  the  incident  blew 
into  live  sparks  again  the  seemingly  dead  ashes  of  wrath 
originally  set  into  fierce  glow  by  clearances  and  evictions 
in  many  parts  of  Scotland,  some  of  them  within  com- 
paratively recent  times.     Sheep  and  deer  of  large  pro- 


432  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1884 

prietors  had  become  the  solitar}'  occupants  of  regions  once 
studded  with  the  habitations  of  a  hardy  people.  A  Eoyal 
Commission  had  been  appointed  to  examine  into  crofter 
grievances  and  the  still  worse  cotter  troubles.  This  Com- 
mission subsequently  effected  what  had  been  brought 
about  in  Ireland — a  reduction  in  rents.  But  this  could 
not  be  a  complete  remedy.  The  questions  of  property, 
ownership,  equal  rights,  justice  had  been  raised.  It  only 
needed  a  man  like  Henry  George,  with  a  simple,  clear- 
cut  proposition  to  give  point  and  force  to  the  general  con- 
viction of  wrong,  by  turning  all  thought  into  a  single 
channel — which  he  proceeded  to  do  by  demanding  the 
restoration  of  the  common  rights  in  land.  The  opening 
of  the  Scottish  course  with  a  lecture  in  Dundee  was  there- 
fore under  auspicious  circumstances.  The  lecture  was 
in  Newsome's  Circus.  Eev.  David  Macrae,  a  vigorous  no- 
compensationist,  was  in  the  chair,  and  three  or  four  other 
clergymen  and  several  councilmen  among  those  on  the 
platform. 

Yet  there  was  the  fly  in  the  ointment.  To  many  minds 
Henry  George  had  desecrated  the  Lord's  Day  by  partici- 
pating in  a  mass  meeting  in  London  on  the  Sunday  of  his 
public  entry  into  the  Metropolis.  But  this  lapse  was 
quickly  forgotten  in  the  glow  of  religious  fervor  he  excited 
when,  by  invitation,  he  delivered  in  Eev.  Mr.  Macrae's 
temporary  church,  in  the  Kinnaird  Hall,  the  lecture  on 
"Moses"  which,  while  at  work  on  "Progress  and  Poverty," 
he  had  delivered,  in  San  Francisco,  before  the  Young 
Men's  Hebrew  Association  of  that  city.  Its  eloquence 
and  fire  and  vivid  picturing  spoke  to  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  a  people  still  possessing  many  of  the  traits  of  the 
Covenanter  of  old,  and  as  it  were,  gave  the  active,  speak- 
ing support  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  proclamation  of 
equal  rights  to  the  land.    Mr.  George  repeated  the  "Moses" 


Age,  45]  AWAKENS  RELIGIOUS  FERVOUR  433 

lecture  several  times  in  Scotland  during  this  and  subse- 
quent trips,  and  latterly  had  it  put  in  pamphlet  form  for 
free  distribution.  This  lecture  and  other  things  tended 
in  the  minds  of  many  to  give  a  religious  benediction  to  all 
his  utterances ;  and  a  number  of  his  lectures  in  the  High- 
lands on  the  land  question  were  opened  or  closed  with 
prayer,  pronounced  by  some  devout  person  on  the  plat- 
form or  in  the  audience. 

The  lecture  course  was  north  to  Wick  and  Keiss,  and 
incidentally  Mr.  George  visited  John  o'  Groat's  house  at 
the  extreme  northeastern  point  of  Great  Britain.  Then 
he  retraced  his  steps  and  turned  west  to  the  Island  of 
Skye.  He  lectured  at  Portree  and  made  informal  speeches 
on  the  land  question  at  Glendale  and  Uig.  Edward  Mc- 
Hugh,  who  was  acting  as  Mr.  George's  lecture  agent, 
sa^'^s  of  the  Portree  lecture: 

"McDonald  of  Skeabost,  an  important  landlord  in  the 
island,  was  present  and  showed  a  lively  interest.  After 
the  address  proper  he  took  the  floor  to  ask  what  Mr. 
George  recommended  the  people  to  do  with  the  landlords 
if  their  lands  should  be  taken  from  them.  Mr.  George 
replied  that  he  would  do  with  the  landlords  as  the  fisher- 
man does  with  the  oyster — open  it,  take  out  the  fish  and 
throw  the  shells  away.  The  answer  made  a  sensation 
and  McDonald  stalked  out  of  the  hall.  Mr.  George  did 
not  learn  until  afterwards  of  the  singular  aptness  of  his 
reply,  since  this  same  McDonald  had  taken  from  the 
people  of  Skye  the  immemorial  privilege  of  fishing  for 
oysters  in  the  shallow  waters  of  the  island  and  had 
thereby  increased  his  own  and  his  fellow  landlords'  in- 
come by  sending  the  supply  to  the  London  market." 

From  Skye,  Mr.  George  proceeded  to  Glasgow,  Inver- 
ness, Aberdeen  and  Edinburgh.  But  of  all  the  lectures 
in  Scotland,  that  in  Glasgow  proved  to  be  the  most  im- 


434  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [i884 

portant.  He  spoke  there  twice,  on  February  18  and  again 
on  February  25,  both  times  in  the  City  Hall.  The  first 
lecture  was  of  the  regular  course.  There  were  some 
empty  seats  in  the  hall,  but  the  audience  was  anything 
but  apathetic,  for  at  the  close  five  hundred  persons  re- 
mained to  take  part  in  the  formation  of  an  organisation 
to  propagate  the  ideas  held  by  the  lecturer.  To  launch 
this  organisation  in  good  style,  the  second  meeting  was 
held,  with  Mr.  George  as  the  chief  spokesman,  John  Mur- 
dock  in  the  chair,  and  William  Forsyth,  proprietor  of  the 
Cobden  Hotel  of  the  city,  to  move  the  resolutions  for- 
mally establishing  the  Scottish  Land  Restoration  League 
— a  title  suggested  by  Eichard  McGrhee,  one  of  the  active 
workers  in  the  plan.  The  hall  was  jammed,  and  enough 
people  were  turned  away  to  have  made  another  big  meet- 
ing. Mr.  George  was  at  his  best,  as  were  all  the  other 
speakers.  The  audience  was  hot  with  enthusiasm  and 
gave  itself  up  to  wild  cheering  when  a  couple  of  pipers  in 
costume  came  pressing  through  the  throng  playing  na- 
tional airs.  In  a  word,  the  Scottish  Land  Eestoration 
League  started  off  with  a  furor,  and  1940  signatures 
were  handed  in  to  the  committee  for  enrollment  on  the 
membership  list.  William  Forsyth  was  elected  President, 
and  Mr.  George  wrote  the  League's  proclamation  to  the 
people  of  Scotland.  The  action  in  Glasgow  was  conta- 
gious. Similar  societies  were  formed  very  quickly  in 
Dundee,  Aberdeen,  Inverness,  Edinburgh,  Greenock  and 
several  other  cities. 

Entering  England  again,  Mr.  George  lectured  in  Leeds, 
Oxford,  Cambridge  and  Hull,  and  then  went  back  to  Lon- 
don. He  had  set  out  on  the  tour  expecting  to  meet  with 
all  manner  of  opposition  arising  from  frightened  special 
interests,  class  feelings,  local  prejudices  and  other  cir- 
cumstances.    Yet  strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  remained 


Age,  45]  UPEOAE  AT   OXFORD  435 

for  Oxford,  that  ancient  and  famous  seat  of  learning,  to 
earn  the  distinction  of  discreditable  conduct.  Michael 
Davitt,  who  came  there  shortly  afterwards  to  lecture,  was 
locked  in  his  hotel  chambers  by  a  body  of  the  University 
students,  and  did  not  get  out  in  time  to  speak.  Mr, 
George  did  not  suffer  this  treatment,  but  his  lecture  in 
this  intellectual  centre  was  attended  by  the  turmoil  of 
the  hustings.  There  were  honours,  for  during  his  two 
days'  stay  in  Oxford  he  was  the  guest  of  Professor  F.  Max 
Miiller;  and  at  the  lecture,  which  was  held  in  the  Claren- 
don Assembly  room,  F.  York  Powell,  M.A.,  lecturer  in 
law,  presided,  and  a  number  of  ladies  and  men  prominent 
in  the  University  attended.  But  in  the  midst  of  the 
audience,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  under-graduates,  sat 
a  bunch  of  unruly  young  aristocrats,  who,  by  shouting, 
ironically  cheering  and  general  noise,  kept  up  a  disturb- 
ance throughout  the  proceedings.  This  made  a  smooth 
and  connected  discourse  impossible;  but  when  the  lec- 
turer, assuming  his  audience  for  the  most  part  to  be  well 
grounded  in  economic  subjects,  cut  short  his  address 
proper  to  answer  questions,  one  man  after  another  took 
the  floor,  not  to  put  simple  interrogatories,  as  invited, 
but,  possibly  following  the  University  debating  habit,  to 
make  a  speech,  often  with  the  harsh  manner  and  strong 
epithets  of  a  special  pleader. 

Alfred  Marshall,  lecturer  on  political  economy  at  Bal- 
liol  College,  was  the  first  to  rise.  He  observed,  among 
other  things,  that  not  a  single  economic  doctrine  in  Mr. 
George's  book  was  both  new  and  true,  since  what  was 
new  was  not  true,  and  what  was  true  was  not  new.  He 
announced  that  he  had  repeatedly  challenged  any  one  to 
disprove  this,  but  that  no  one  had  come  forward.  More- 
over, he  was  of  opinion  that  Mr.  George  in  his  book  had 
not  understood  a  sinoie  author  whom  he  had  undertaken 


436  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i884 

to  criticise;  but  he  (Marshall)  offered  no  censure,  be- 
cause Mr.  George  had  not  had  the  special  training  neces- 
sary to  understand  them.  Interspersed  with  assevera- 
tions of  this  kind  was  a  shower  of  questions. 

The  lecturer's  chief  reply  was  that  he  was  willing  to 
subject  "Progress  and  Poverty"  to  Mr.  Marshall's  test — 
that  it  contained  nothing  that  was  both  new  and  true. 
Because,  said  Mr.  George,  the  book  was  based  upon  the 
truth;  and  the  truth  could  not  be  a  new  thing;  it  al- 
ways had  existed  and  it  must  be  everlasting.  He  endeav- 
oured to  pick  out  and  answer  a  number  of  Marshall's 
questions,  and  he  really  succeeded  in  winning  the  support 
and  applause  of  a  considerable  part  of  the  audience.  But 
there  were  cheers  from  others  for  the  Balliol  man;  and 
he,  after  rising  very  often  and  engaging  much  time, 
turned  to  his  supporters  and  announced  that  the  lec- 
turer had  failed  to  meet  his  queries;  whereupon  he  sat 
down.^ 

But  the  climax  of  disorder  was  reached  when  Mr.  Cony- 
beare,  son-in-law  of  Professor  Miiller,  denounced  Mr. 
George's  remedy  as  a  "nostrum"  that  was  "scandalously 
immoral."  He  delivered  this  with  a  tone  and  manner 
that  called  forth  mingled  cries  of  dissent  and  approval 
from  the  divided  audience  and  that  excited  the  lecturer 
himself  to  say — for  he  did  not  recognise  the  speaker — ^that 
he  must  withdraw  the  compliment  he  had  paid  early  in 
the  evening  to  the  University's  learning  and  good  man- 
ners. This  remark  increased  the  uproar  for  a  time;  and 
Professor  Miiller  sat  on  the  platform,  an  uncomfortable, 
yet  outwardly  calm,  witness  to  this  caustic  interchange 
between  a  member  of  his  family  and  his  guest.     The  tur- 

1  George's  final  views  of  Marshall  as  a  political  economist  may  be  found 
in  "  The  Science  of  Political  Economy."     See  Marshall  in  index. 


Age,  45]  PROF,  F.  MAX  MULLER  437 

bulence  was  stilled  when  Mr.  Conybeare  arose  and  said 
that  he  intended  no  reflection  upon  Mr.  George's  charac- 
ter— that  he  intended  only  frankly  to  criticise  ideas.  Mr. 
George  had  met  the  young  man  before,  but  had  lost  sight 
of  his  relationship  to  his  host.  When  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  matter  after  the  lecture,  he  was  pained  and 
mortified  and  expressed  to  Professor  Miiller  his  sorrow 
that  he  had  shown  weakness  in  allowing  the  young  man's 
words  to  chafe  him.  The  professor  on  his  side  was  much 
moved.  He  apologised  for  what  he  called  a  public  in- 
sult to  a  guest  by  a  member  of  the  family;  the  offence 
being  the  more  flagrant  he  said,  since  the  one  who  had 
caused  it  had  not  read  "Progress  and  Poverty"  and  could 
not  properly  judge  of  its  doctrines.  Nothing  could  have 
added  to  the  sincere  and  graceful  bearing  of  the  eminent 
scholar  in  the  difficult  circumstances. 

The  Cambridge  lecture  proved  to  be  as  quiet  and  or- 
derly as  the  Oxford  lecture  had  been  noisy  and  disorderly. 
The  audience  was  very  large;  and  though  the  questions 
indicated  that  opposition  to  the  principles  enunciated 
was  not  wanting,  the  proceedings  were  stamped  with  every 
mark  of  propriety. 

When  Mr.  George  got  back  to  London  he  found  that 
his  managers  could  not  again  obtain  St.  James's  Hall 
for  him — that  on  one  pretext  or  another  it  had  been  re- 
fused; but  he  spoke  four  times  in  other  halls,  and  so 
closed  his  triumphal  tour.  He  had  been  speaking  with 
fiery  zeal  for  the  best  part  of  three  months;  had  travelled 
from  Plymouth  in  the  South  to  John  o'  Groat's  House 
in  the  North,  and  from  Hull  in  the  East  to  the  Hebrides 
in  the  West.  On  the  5th  of  April  he  was  given  a  fare- 
well banquet  at  the  Criterion  by  the  Land  Eestoration 
League,  when  he  said  in  his  address  that  a  flame  had  been 
lit  in  Great  Britain  that  would  be  fanned  by  every  M'ind. 


438  LIFE  OF   HENKY   GEORGE  [1884 

On  invitation,  chiefly  of  Michael  Davitt,  Mr.  George 
crossed  to  Ireland  and  lectured  to  a  large  audience  in  the 
Ancient  Concert  Eooms,  Dublin,  on  "The  Land  for  the 
People/'  Mr.  Allingham,  the  Mayor  of  Waterford,  in 
the  chair.  On  Sunday  morning,  April  13,  Mr.  George  em- 
barked at  Queenstown  with  his  son  on  the  Guion  liner 
Oregon  and  sailed  for  New  York. 

Although  the  several  months  in  Great  Britain  had  been, 
as  a  whole,  strenuous,  there  were  intervals  of  relaxation. 
One  of  these  was  when  Wilfred  Meynell,  editor  of  the 
Catholic  "Weekly  Eegister,"  took  Mr.  George  to  meet  Car- 
dinal Manning.  Mr.  Meynell  said  after  the  death  of 
both  men: 

"It  was  my  great  privilege  to  introduce  Henry  George 
to  Cardinal  Manning.  I  have  a  vision  of  the  two  pro- 
files facing  each  other  in  the  dim  light  of  the  growing 
dusk,  and  I  recall  the  emotion  of  tone  in  which  each 
man  made  frankly  to  the  other  a  sort  of  profession  of 
faith.  They  had  travelled  to  the  same  goal  from  oppo- 
site directions.  'I  loved  the  people,'  said  Henry  George, 
'and  that  love  brought  me  to  Christ  as  their  best  friend 
and  teacher.'  'And  I,'  said  the  Cardinal,  'loved  Christ, 
and  so  learned  to  love  the  people  for  whom  He  died.' 
They  faced  each  other  in  silence  for  a  moment — in  a 
silence  more  eloquent  than  words." 

There  were  also  lighter  moments,  when  Mr.  George's 
sunshiny  nature  gave  itself  free  play.  Humour  was  one 
of  his  salient  qualities,  and  there  were  many  amusing 
incidents  in  passing.  For  instance,  on  reaching  Cardiff, 
he  went  to  a  Turkish  bath  to  relieve  his  fatigue.  When 
the  bath  itself  was  over  and  he  lay  resting  in  the  cooling 
room,  he  was  treated  to  a  discussion  of  "this  American, 
Henry  George,"  between  an  attendant  and  a  visitor;  nei- 
ther  of  whom  apparently  had  the  least  idea  that   Mr. 


Age,  45]  INCIDENT  AT   THE  BATH  439 

George  was  in  the  apartment  with  them.  In  whatever 
else  they  differed,  the  talkers  were  agreed  that  "the  Ameri- 
can" was  preaching  robbery;  that  he  wanted  to  take  prop- 
erty away  from  people;  that  Americans  were  "all  a  set 
of  liars."  "All  except  the  Canadians/'  said  Mr.  George, 
getting  into  the  conversation.  Continuing,  he  said: 
^'Those  American  busybodies  like  Henry  George  should 
be  sent  back  to  America  to  try  their  doctrines  there  be- 
fore they  try  to  force  them  upon  us." 

"'Yes,  yes,"  answered  both  the  other  men. 

"Why,  just  to  think  what  he  teaches,"  exclaimed  George, 
with  show  of  indignation.  "Here  is  the  Marquis  of  Bute, 
who  owns  so  much  of  the  land  of  Cardiff.  Of  course  the 
land  is  his." 

"Yes,"  said  the  men. 

"And  he  can  do  what  he  pleases  with  his  own  property." 

"Yes,"  was  the  response. 

"And,  of  course,  since  the  land  is  his  and  he  can  do 
what  he  pleases  with  his  own  property,  he  can,  if  he  wants 
to,  clear  off  a  large  part  of  the  population  of  Cardiff — 
can,  if  he  should  choose  to  do  so,  destroy  an  important 
section  of  the  city.'" 

At  this  the  men  made  protest;  and  as  Mr.  George 
pressed  for  the  rights  and  jDrivileges  of  the  Marquis  of 
Bute,  the  men  became  more  and  more  radical,  until  they 
asserted  that  the  nobleman  really  had  no  better  right  to 
the  land  there  than  anybody  else  in  Cardiff — the  very 
principle  they  had  previously  condemned  in  "the  Ameri- 
can." Mr.  George  played  the  staunch  conservative  to  the 
last  and  left  the  building  without  revealing  himself. 

At  another  time,  while  on  a  train  to  Aberdeen,  he  fell 
into  conversation  with  the  only  other  occupant  of  the 
compartment — a  man  who  talked  well  and  freel3%  and 
who  said  he  was  a  newspaper  writer.     Various  subjects 


440  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i88i 

were  passed  under  contribution  until,  with  a  bright  and 
airy  way,  the  stranger  came  to  the  subject  of  "Henry 
George  and  his  lecture  trip."  "Ah,  what  do  you  think  of 
him?"  said  Mr.  George.  "A  Yankee  with  a  Yankee 
money-making  scheme,"  said  the  other.  "Our  trans-At- 
lantic cousins  are  clever  at  such  things.  The  man  writes 
well;  he  puts  things  in  a  plausible  way.  He  makes  a 
proposition  which  for  very  hugeness  has  the  charm  of 
novelty.  And  really,  the  fellow  is  as  entertaining  as  a 
speaker  as  he  is  as  a  writer." 

"Then  you  have  heard  him  lecture,"  said  Mr.  George 
calmly. 

"Oh,  yes,"  was  the  gay  reply,  and  then  in  response  to 
questions  that  drew  him  on,  he  gave  a  ludicrous  descrip- 
tion of  Henry  George's  personal  appearance,  his  companion 
Joining  in  his  laughter  over  it.  The  entertainment  contin- 
ued until  the  journalist  left  the  train.  Just  as  he  was 
stepping  out  of  the  compartment,  Mr.  George  said :  "I  owe 
you  an  apology;  but  you  interested  me  so  deeply  that 
I  did  not  like  to  stop  you.  Please  accept  m}"-  card." 
The  gentleman  gave  one  glance  at  the  bit  of  pasteboard 
and  then  almost  fell  out  on  the  platform. 

Thus  while  at  times  he  might  pass  for  a  native,  he  did 
not  always.  "Watch  me  play  Englishman,"  said  he  one 
day  to  his  son  as  their  train  pulled  into  Euston  station. 
"Here,  porter,"  he  called,  "get  my  luggage."  "Is  it  an 
American  trunk,  sir?"  said  the  man.  Mr.  George  turned 
to  his  son  and  silently  admitted  the  failure  of  the  ex- 
periment. 

It  was  while  travelling  in  a  third-class  carriage  in  Eng- 
land that  a  poor  woman  got  in  at  a  way  station  and 
brought  with  her  a  jute  or  hemp  satchel,  such  as  is  com- 
monly seen  in  the  hands  of  school  children.  She  put 
this  satchel  down  on  the  seat  beside  her,  doubtless  not 


Age,  45]  WOMAN  WITH   THE   SHOES  441 

noticing  that  one  just  like  it  was  already  there — a  satchel 
which  belonged  to  Mr.  George  and  which  was  one  of 
many  receptacles  for  books  and  papers  that  he  had,  as 
by  custom,  accumulated  on  his  travels.  Presently  tlie 
woman  got  out;  and  later  Mr.  George,  thinking  of  some 
notes,  put  his  hand  into  his  satchel  to  get  them.  Instead 
of  the  notes,  he  found  a  strange  and  dilapidated  pair  of 
shoes.  He  was  thrown  into  a  sea  of  wonder,  from  which 
he  did  not  emerge  until  thought  recurred  of  the  woman 
passenger  who  had  just  before  gotten  out.  At  a  station 
where  he  had  a  few  minutes'  time,  he  telegraphed  back 
along  the  line  in  hope  of  hearing  of  his  papers,  and 
Avord  came  that  a  complaint  had  been  lodged  by  an  in- 
dignant woman  who  protested  that  she  had  been  robbed 
of  a  pair  of  shoes  by  a  man  who  stuffed  her  satchel  with 
a  lot  of  paper  trash.  The  philosopher  was  glad  enough 
to  forward  her  bag  and  a  day  later  got  his  own  in 
exchange. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
"PEOTECTION    OE    FREE    TRADE?" 

1884-1886.  Age,  45-47. 

HENRY  GEORGE  at  home  had  passed  beyond  the 
world  of  letters  into  the  world  of  practical  things. 
Besides  being  an  author,  he  was  recognised  as  a  leader 
among  the  restless  labouring  classes — to  be  with  the 
House  of  Want,  rather  than  with  the  House  of  Have. 
The  working  men  honoured  his  return  with  a  mass  meet- 
ing in  Cooper  Union.  But  men  who  made  a  business  of 
politics  or  who  moved  in  the  privileged  and  fashionable 
world,  held  aloof,  for  instead  of  standing  for  glittering  and 
unmeaning  generalities,  Henry  George  began  to  be  under- 
stood to  menace  a  revolution  in  political  and  social  affairs. 
They  instinctively  drew  away;  and  hence  it  was  that  a 
complimentar}^  dinner  given  to  him  on  the  30th  of  April, 
1884,  at  the  Cosmopolitan  Theatre,  New  York,  lacked  the 
lustre  of  the  Delmonico  banquet  of  the  year  before;  and 
a  lecture  in  the  Academy  of  Music  proved  a  total  failure, 
scarcely  enough  people  being  present  to  pay  for  rent  and 
advertising.  This  lecture  was  given  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  theatrical  and  lecture  firm  of  Brooks  & 
Dickson,  who  made  a  six  months'  contract  with  Mr. 
George  for  a  tour  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  he  to 
get  his  expenses  and  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  profits.     Mr. 

442 


Age,  45-47]  GEORGE'S  SPEAKING  STYLE  443 

Brooks  had  been  in  England  and  had  witnessed  Mr. 
George's  great  success  there,  and  both  men  looked  for 
like  success  in  this  countr}^  The  utter  fiasco  attending 
the  first  lecture  threw  the  firm  into  gloom,  as  they  could 
see  nothing  but  failure  all  along  the  line.  Mr.  George 
no  sooner  learned  of  their  views  than,  with  characteristic 
promptness,  he  released  them  from  their  contract  and  with- 
out consideration.  Whatever  lectures  he  delivered  during 
the  next  year  were  under  other  management,  generally 
his  own. 

Mr.  George  had  during  the  British  tour  won  great  lau- 
rels as  a  platform  speaker.  Yet  there  were  many  who 
had  spoken  of  his  power  as  commonplace.  The  fact  was 
that  he  was  not  even.  He  did  not  memorise,  nor,  except 
in  the  single  lecture  on  Moses,  did  he  read.  He  some- 
times used  a  skeleton  of  heads,  but  his  common  practice 
was  to  speak  without  written  notes  of  any  kind.  For 
this  he  prepared  by  meditation  shortly  before  speaking; 
lying  down,  if  possible,  and  perhaps  smoking.  He  merely 
arranged  a  line  of  thought,  and  left  the  precise  form  of 
expression  to  inspiration  when  on  his  feet.  This  subjected 
him  largely  to  conditions;  a  quiet  audience,  no  matter 
how  friendly,  drawing  forth  a  subdued  speech,  while  a 
lively  audience,  friendly  or  hostile,  provoked  animation. 
He  himself  was  conscious  of  this  and  said  he  could  do 
best  when  facing  opposition.  Charles  Frederick  Adams 
tells  how  his  friend  returned  from  a  lecture  in  Massa- 
chusetts one  day  and  said :  "Come  out  to  lunch,  Charley ; 
I  am  so  ashamed  of  that  lecture  as  an  artistic  perform- 
ance that  I  want  to  spend  the  money  I  got  for  it."  Louis 
F.  Post  supplies  an  illustration  of  Henry  George's  two 
ways  of  speaking.  He  went  to  the  working  men's  wel- 
come meeting  in  Cooper  Union  on  Mr.  George's  return 
in  1884. 


444  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

"It  was  there  that  I  had  m}^  first  taste  of  his  power 
as  an  orator.  His  London  speech  at  St.  James's  Hall 
had  been  described  by  the  English  press  in  such  super- 
lative terms  as  an  oratorical  effort  that  I  wondered.  The 
London  'Times/  in  a  column  editorial,  had  compared 
him  as  an  orator  with  Cobden  and  Bright  so  much  to 
their  disadvantage  that  I  began  to  question  the  standards 
of  English  oratory.  George  had  seemed  to  me  the  best 
writer  I  had  ever  read,  but  no  orator  at  all — at  best  only 
a  plain  speaker.  And  when  he  responded  to  the  speech 
of  welcome  at  Cooper  Union  I  was  still  much  puzzled 
by  the  estimate  the  London  'Times'  had  made.  It 
was  far  from  oratory  in  any  sense.  In  matter  it  was 
excellent.  George's  oratory  never  failed  in  that  respect. 
But  in  manner  it  was  tame  and  unimpressive.  After 
he  had  finished,  and  while  some  one  else  without  orator- 
ical ability  was  speaking,  I  went  out  for  a  ruminative 
smoke.  Upon  returning  after  possibly  an  hour's  ab- 
sence, a  voice  came  up  to  me  through  the  subterranean 
corridors  as  I  entered  the  street  door  of  Cooper  Union, 
which  made  me  think  that  now  an  orator  had  certainly 
come  forth.  As  I  descended,  and  a  burst  of  applause  fol- 
lowed a  period,  this  impression  grew.  The  voice  was 
strange  to  me,  and  I  wondered  as  its  volume  swelled 
what  prodigy  of  platform  eloquence  this  man  could  be. 
Hurrying  forward  with  that  impression  deepening,  and 
coming  to  one  of  the  doors  which  disclosed  the  stage  and 
a  large  part  of  an  enthusiastic  audience,  there  I  beheld 
upon  the  platform,  with  one  arm  extended  and  head 
thrown  back,  his  voice  filling  the  hall  and  his  sentiments 
stirring  the  blood  of  his  auditors,  no  one  else  but  Henry 
George.  He  had  again  been  called  upon  to  speak,  and 
for  nearly  an  hour  he  held  his  audience  entranced,  my- 
self among  the  rest.  Long  before  he  had  finished  I  knew 
why  the  London  'Times'  thought  him  as  great  or  greater 
than  Cobden  or  Bright." 

While  he  did  some  intermittent  lecturing  and  speaking, 
Mr.  George's  chief  purpose  at  this  period  was  to  apply 
himself  to  writing.     The  first  thing  he  took  up  was  an 


A-e,  45-47] 


REPLY  TO  ARGYLL  445 


attack  made  on  him  and  his  principles  by  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  in  an  article  in  the  ''Nineteenth  Century"  for 
April,  entitled,  "The  Prophet  of  San  Francisco."  The 
article  had  appeared  during  the  closing  days  of  the  Brit- 
ish lecture  trip,  and  the  "Nineteenth  Century,"  the  "Fort- 
nightly," and  the  "Pall  Mall  Gazette"  hastened  to  offer 
their  columns  for  reply.  When  Mr.  George  decided  to 
answer  he  chose  the  same  periodical  through  which  he  had 
been  attacked. 

But  Mr.  George  was  reluctant  to  enter  the  lists.  He 
treated  the  attack  as  chiefly  abusive,  and  abuse  he  be- 
lieved not  worth  heeding.  Whatever  of  principle  ap- 
peared he  considered  to  be  answered  in  advance  in  "Prog- 
ress and  Poverty."  But  the  active  men  in  the  Scottish 
Land  Eestoration  League  pointed  out  that,  besides  being 
a  Peer  of  the  Eealm,  close  in  rank  to  Eoyalty  itself,  the 
Duke  was  titular  chief  of  the  great  Campbell  clan.  A 
controversy  between  the  "Peer"*  and  the  "Prophet"  would, 
the  League  advisers  argued,  carry  the  land  question  into 
every  household  in  Scotland  and  arouse  the  highlanders. 
So  Mr.  George  set  himself  to  the  task  of  replying  in  the 
brief  moments  of  leisure  that  remained  to  him  during  his 
tour.  He  sat  up  a  considerable  part  of  the  night  in 
Cork,  previous  to  sailing  for  America,  working  on  the 
article.  He  actually  had  it  written,  and  the  ordinary 
critic  would  perhaps  have  said,  completely  written;  but 
it  did  not  satisfy  its  exacting  author.  He  said  to  his  son : 
"I'll  not  send  it  off  now,  but  take  it  to  New  York  and 
polish  it  like  a  steel  shot."  And  with  the  title  of  "The 
'Reduction  to  Iniquity,'  "  the  reply  appeared  in  the  July 
number  of  the  "Nineteenth  Century." 

The  Duke  had  dropped  as  suddenly  and  as  far  in 
Henry  George's  estimation  as  had  that  other  philosopher, 
Herbert    Spencer.     George   acknowledged  his   obligations 


446  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

to  the  Duke  as  the  author  of  the  '"'Eeign  of  Law,"  and  as 
pointing  out  "the  existence  of  physical  laws  and  adapta- 
tions which  compel  the  mind  that  thinks  upon  them  to 
the  recognition  of  creative  purpose."  Like  the  Duke,  he 
had  heheld  "the  grand  simplicity  and  unspeakable  har- 
mony of  universal  law."  But  he  now  learned  with 
amazement  that  the  Duke's  splendid  philosophy  broke 
down  when  it  trenched  on  social  affairs,  and  that  "a  trum- 
pery title  and  a  patch  of  ground"  fettered  "a  mind  that 
had  communed  with  nature  and  busied  itself  with  causes 
and  beginnings."  How  little  he  cared  for  the  Duke's  un- 
fairness and  personal  bitterness  is  shown  by  his  passing 
them  with  contemptuous  silence.  But  he  considered  the 
Scotsman  as  untrue  to  his  own  philosophy;  and  a  dis- 
honest philosopher  kindled  his  wrath.  For  an  intellec- 
tual leader  who  would  consciously  mislead,  he  had  no 
mercy;  so  that  in  his  reply,  he  coupled  false  philosopher 
and  false  philosophy,  and  together  held  them  up  to  gen- 
eral scorn. 

This  one  article,  "polished  like  a  steel  shot,"  seemed 
to  suffice.  It  was  received  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  in 
silence;  nor  did  he  ever  attempt  to  make  rejoinder.  It 
was  accepted  by  the  reading  world  with  the  mixed  feel- 
ings excited  by  the  other  writings  from  George's  pen. 
But  by  all  those  in  sympathy  with  the  objects  of  the 
Scottish  Land  Eestoration  League  it  was  hailed  with  dem- 
onstrations of  joy.  Accompanied  by  the  Duke's  article, 
it  was  soon  published  in  pamphlet  form  under  the  cap- 
tion of  "The  Peer  and  the  Prophet,"  and  in  the  hands 
of  the  League,  was  carried  into  the  homes  and  factories 
of  the  cities,  while  it  became  a  kind  of  "fiery  cross" 
through  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland,  sum- 
moning the  clansmen  to  the  great  struggle  for  natural 
rights.     A  similar  pamphlet  was  published  in  the  United 


Age,  45^7]  TARIFF  BOOK  BEGUN  ANEW  447 

States  with  the  title  of  "Property  in  Land,"  and  became 
an  effective  instrument  for  propaganda. 

The  reply  to  the  Duke  of  Argyll  Mr.  George  regarded  as 
a  mere  thing  in  passing,  compared  with  the  work  to  which 
he  now  settled  down — the  tariff  book,  or  pamphlet,  for  he 
did  not  determine  beforehand  what  size  he  would  make 
it.  A  year  had  passed  since  the  loss  of  the  manuscript 
of  the  first  book.  Mr.  George  with  his  family  spent  the 
summer  on  a  farm  on  Long  Island,  near  Jamaica,  worked 
by  Walter  Cranford,  son  of  John  P.  Cranford  of  Brooklyn, 
an  early  and  ardent  advocate  of  the  Georgeian  ideas,  and 
who  with  his  purse  gave  much  help  to  their  spread.  There 
on  the  Cranford  farm  Mr.  George  applied  himself  with 
steady  industry  to  his  task. 

The  book,  intended  primarily  for  working  men,  aimed, 
as  he  said  in  his  preface,  not  only  to  examine  the  argu- 
ments commonly  used,  but,  carrying  the  inquiry  farther 
than  the  controversialists  on  either  side  had  yet  ventured 
to  go,  sought  to  discover  why  protection  retained  such 
popular  strength  in  spite  of  all  exposures  of  its  fallacies; 
endeavoured  to  trace  the  connection  between  the  tariff 
question  and  those  still  more  important  social  questions, 
then  rapidly  becoming  the  "burning  questions"  of  the 
times;  and  sought  to  show  to  what  radical  measures  the 
principle  of  free  trade  logically  led.  In  a  letter  to  Walker 
of  Birmingham  (September  25)  the  author  explained: 
"I  first  knock  all  the  claims  of  protection;  then  turn 
around  and  show  that  the  mere  abolition  of  protection 
would  accomplish  nothing  for  the  working  classes;  but 
that  to  accomplish  anything  for  them,  the  principle  of 
free  trade  must  be  carried  out  to  its  full  extent,  which 
means,  of  course,  the  abolition  of  all  taxes  and  the  appro- 
priation of  land  values." 

When  the  writing  was  well  advanced,  Mr.  George  had 


448  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

some  correspondence  about  it  with  Dr.  Taylor  of  San 
Francisco,  who  suggested  employment  of  the  inductive 
method.  George  replied  (September  14)  :  "My  view  of 
the  matter  is  the  reverse  of  yours.  1  do  not  think  induc- 
tion employed  in  such  questions  as  the  tariff  is  of  any 
use.  What  the  people  want  is  theory;  and  until  they  get 
a  correct  theory  into  their  heads,  all  citing  of  facts  is 
useless." 

Mr.  George  was  much  interested  in  the  animals  on  the 
Cranford  farm  and  particularly  in  a  fine  blooded  bull 
that  was  often  tethered  in  a  grass  field  just  outside  the 
window.  The  animal  was  much  annoyed  by  flies,  and  in 
walking  around  would  wind  his  rope  short  until  his  head 
was  drawn  close  to  the  stake,  and  he  could  do  little  more 
in  the  hot  summer  sun  than  switch  his  tail  and  bellow. 
Often  and  often  the  philosopher  stopped  work  to  go  out 
and  drive  the  bull  in  the  opposite  direction  and  free  his 
rope.  This  commonplace  incident,  oft  repeated,  suggested 
the  opening  illustration  in  the  introductory  chapter, 
which,  instead  of  first,  was  about  the  last  part  of  the 
book  to  be  written  at  the  Cranford  farm. 

In  the  fall  the  family  moved  to  a  house  in  Brooklyn, 
on  Macon  Street.  Soon  after  that,  on  the  urging  of  his 
boyhood  friend,  Kev.  Dr.  K.  Heber  ISTewton,  Mr.  George 
accepted  an  invitation  to  attend  the  Ninth  Congress  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  at  Detroit,  and  speak  to  the  topic, 
"Is  our  civilisation  just  to  working  men?''  Kev.  John 
W.  Kramer,  of  New  York,  who  was  secretary  of  the  Con- 
gress, afterwards  said. 

"Mr.  George's  fir.st  words  were  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion asked.  He  said:  'It  is  not.  Try  it  by  whatever 
test  you  will,  it  is  glaringly,  bitterly  and  increasingly 
unjust.'  I  remember  the  emphatic  fervour  with  which  this 
opening   was   uttered.     It   attracted   the   audience;   it 


Age,  45-47]  CLEVELAND   AND   BLAINE  449 

startled  men.  But  hearty  applause  came,  given  by 
many  hearers  who  were  not  ready  to  agree  with  the 
strong  statement,  but  who  were  for  the  moment  captured 
by  the  sublime  courage  of  the  speaker.  The  address 
was  published  in  full  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress." 


The  presidential  campaign  had  for  some  weeks  been  in 
full  swing,  but  for  the  first  time  in  many  years  Mr. 
George  could  not  warm  up.  Blaine,  the  Kepublican  can- 
didate, had  avowed  himself  a  champion  of  what  George 
called  the  "protection  humbug,"  and  Patrick  Ford  was 
out  with  the  "Irish  World"  strongly  in  Blaine's  support. 
Benjamin  F.  Butler  of  Massachusetts  was  running  as  a 
Greenback-Labour  candidate,  but  George  quickly  con- 
cluded that  Butler  was  insincere  in  this  and  a  mere  "de- 
coy duck  for  the  Kepublican  party."  Yet  the  Democrats 
avoided  the  issue.  George  wrote  Taylor  as  early  as  Au- 
gust: "I  am  utterly  disgusted  with  the  attitude  of  the 
Democratic  party.  It  is  a  mere  party  of  expediency,  and 
as  such  can  never  win.  Cleveland's  nomination  was  an 
expediency  nomination."  George,  however,  in  efEect  voted 
for  Cleveland.  Leaving  for  Scotland  before  election  day, 
he  paired  with  a  friend  who  had  intended  to  vote  for 
Blaine.  And  after  the  election  was  over  and  Cleveland 
was  known  to  have  won,  George  wrote  a  signed  article 
for  William  Saunders'  London  paper,  "The  Democrat," 
stating  among  other  things  that  events  had  shoM^n  that 
now  the  tariff  issue  could  no  longer  be  avoided,  that  it 
would  split  the  Democratic  party  in  two  and  that  it 
would  raise  the  underlying  question  of  why  some  grow  so 
rich  while  others,  though  they  work  hard,  are  yet  so  poor. 

The  managers  of  the  Scottish  Land  Eestoration  League 
had  sent  a  pressing  call  to  Mr.  George  to  come  and  make 
a  lecture  and  speaking  campaign  through  the  lowlands 


450  LIFE   OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

which  contained  the  important  political  centres,  for  it 
was  the  purpose  to  force  the  land  question  into  politics. 
And  in  order  that  he  might  the  easier  do  this,  they  raised 
a  fund  with  which  to  meet  the  heaviest  expenses.  Mr. 
George  decided  that  this  would  be  the  most  important 
work  he  could  do  for  the  time  and  in  October  he  crossed 
the  Atlantic  alone. 

In  order  to  draw  general  attention  to  the  campaign,  a 
big  meeting  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  English 
League  in  St.  James's  Hall,  London.  The  hall  was 
packed.  Mr.  George,  of  course,  was  the  central  figure, 
and  Miss  Taylor,  Michael  Davitt,  William  Forsyth,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Scottish  League,  and  others  spoke.  George 
had  now  come  to  full  powers  as  a  speaker  and  his  address 
was  thought  by  many  to  be  the  finest  he  had  yet  deliv- 
ered in  Great  Britain.  The  effect  of  this  meeting  was 
to  set  the  press,  and  particularly  the  Scottish  press,  agog 
on  the  subject. 

The  Scottish  campaign  opened  in  the  City  Hall  in 
Glasgow  on  November  21.  The  hall  was  crowded  with  a 
pay  audience  and  people  were  turned  away.  Lectures  in 
other  towns  followed  in  close  succession,  the  one  in  Kil- 
marnock on  Christmas  Eve  being  appropriate  to  the  night 
and  particularly  fine. 

Trouble  had  again  broken  out  between  the  crofters  and 
the  half  dozen  or  less  landlords  in  Skye  and  the  other 
Western  Islands.  Police  from  Glasgow  and  Royal  Naval 
Marines  had  been  sent  there  to  keep  the  peace.  The 
League  arranged  for  several  meetings  in  Skye  for  Mr. 
George,  all  of  which  were  eminently  successful,  some  of 
the  soldiers  attending  and  applauding  the  lecturer's  sen- 
timents. On  returning  to  Glasgow,  Mr.  George  was  in- 
terviewed at  length  by  a  representative  of  the  "Pall  Mall 
Gazette"  of  London.     In  answer  to  the  question  what. 


Age,  4^7]  EELIEF   FOR   THE   CROFTERS  451 

apart  from  liis  radical  remedy,  could  he  suggest  in  the 
way  of  immediate  measures  of  relief  for  the  crofters, 
he  said : 

"The  withdrawal  of  the  army  of  invasion,  the  suspen- 
sion, at  least  as  to  crofter  holdings,  of  all  laws  for  the 
collection  of  rent;  the  suspension  of  all  laws  for  the 
preservation  of  game,  and  of  the  law  requiring  gun 
licenses.  The  enactment  of  a  short  bill  of  this  kind 
would  greatly  relieve  the  crofters,  while  larger  measures 
were  being  considered,  and  would  obviate  the  neces- 
sity for  any  charitable  fund,  such  as  the  Earl  of  Breadal- 
bane  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  McDonald  of  Inverness,  are  rais- 
ing, which  could  be  turned  to  the  relief  of  the  landlords, 
if  any  of  them  really  suffered  by  not  getting  rents.  The 
suspension  of  the  gun  license  and  of  game  laws  would 
enable  the  crofters  to  protect  their  crops,  and  vary  their 
diet,  while  accustoming  them  to  the  use  of  arms,  a  thing 
in  itself  much  to  be  desired  among  a  free  people." 

The  campaign  was  closed  as  it  began,  with  an  address 
in  London.  The  English  League  had  asked  the  Lord 
Mayor  for  the  use  of  Guildhall.  Being  refused  that,  they 
decided  to  hold  a  meeting  of  the  unemployed  outside  the 
hall,  or  more  precisely,  in  front  of  the  Royal  Exchange. 
The  meeting  took  place  Saturday  afternoon,  January  17. 
It  was  estimated  that  seven  thousand  people  were  in  the 
gathering.  William  Saunders,  Rev.  Stewart  Headlam, 
Rev.  Mr.  Hastings,  Rev.  C.  Fleming  Williams,  William 
Miller,  Peter  Hennessy  (tailor),  A.  Pike  (shoemaker) 
and  A.  Brown  (joiner)  were  among  the  speakers.  The 
strongest  point  in  Mr.  George's  speech  was  when  he 
pointed  to  the  inscription  in  great  letters  across  the  front 
of  the  Royal  Exchange  and  said:  "Look  up  there.  'The 
Earth  is  the  Lord's.'"  [A  voice:  "The  landlords'!"] 
"Aye,  the  landlords'.     They  have  substituted   the  land- 


452  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

lords  for  the  Lord  above  all;  and  the  want  of  employ- 
ment, the  misery  which  exists  from  one  end  of  the  king- 
dom to  the  other — the  misery  which  encircles  society 
viierever  civilisation  goes,  is  caused  by  the  sin  of  the 
denial  of  justice." 

Before  sailing  for  home,  Mr.  George  was  induced  to 
lecture  in  Liverpool  and  also  to  cross  the  Irish  Sea  and 
address  a  Korth  of  Ireland  audience  at  Belfast,  the  capi- 
tal of  Ulster.  Both  gatherings  were  large,  the  latter,  fill- 
ing Ulster  Hall,  numbering  between  four  and  five  thou- 
sand jjeople.     Enthusiasm  in  both  cities  was  very  great. 

The  result  of  the  trip  across  the  Atlantic  was  summed 
up  by  Miss  Taylor  in  a  note  to  Mrs.  George :  "Mr.  George's 
name  is  in  our  papers  every  day  for  praise  or  blame,  and 
he  has  more  warm  friends  here  than  bitter  enemies." 
She  might  also  have  said  that  Joseph  Chamberlain,  the 
then  leading  Eadical,  had  in  a  speech  taken  such  advanced 
ground  for  the  taxation  of  land  values  that  his  name 
was  very  frequently  coupled  with  Mr.  George's.  The 
visit  had  a  further  significance  in  that  some  of  the  friends 
urged  George  to  return  and  stand  for  Parliament,  assur- 
ing him  that  he  could  be  elected  in  any  one  of  a  number 
of  constituencies.  He  wrote  to  Durant  in  the  matter 
(February  11)  :  "I  am  at  heart  as  much  a  citizen  of  Old 
England  as  of  New  England,  but  I  think  that  from  the 
accident  of  my  birth  I  should  be  under  disadvantage  on 
your  side  of  the  water.  At  any  rate,  I  should  not  deem 
it  prudent  to  go  over  there,  unless  there  was  such  a  con- 
siderable call  as  made  it  seem  clearly  my  duty.  When 
this  point  is  reached  it  will  be  time  to  talk  about  it." 
Within  that  year  a  general  election  took  place  under 
the  new  franchise  act  and  redistribution  of  seats,  and 
to  use  Mr.  George's  words  "a  little  knot  of  thorough- 
going 'Land  Eestorationists' "  were  "returned"  to  the  new 


Age,  45-471  ^  SEAT  IN  PAKLIAMENT  453 

Parliament,  "with  quite  a  large  fringe  of  men  sufficiently 
advanced  for  immediate  purposes."  However,  Irish  mat- 
ters engaged  British  politics  for  some  time  afterward  and 
little  more  than  educational  work  could  be  done  along 
land  restoration  lines  in  Parliament. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  signs  of  progress  in  Great 
Britain  was  one  to  which,  if  not  Mr.  George's  recent  trip, 
at  least  his  former  visits  and  the  extensive  reading  of  his 
books  might  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  been  a  con- 
tributing cause.  It  was  the  truly  extraordinary  report 
made  in  spring  of  1885  by  a  "Eoyal  Commission  on  the 
Housing  of  the  Working  Classes,"  which  recommended 
that  a  local  tax  of  four  per  cent,  of  its  selling  value  be 
placed  upon  vacant  or  inadequately  used  land,  as  tend- 
ing to  relieve  general  "rates"  {i.  e.,  local  taxes),  and 
by  forcing  new  land  into  use,  to  bring  down  the  price 
of  general  building  land.^     The  members  of  the  Commis- 

1  This  passage  of  the  report  ran  as  follows  :  ' '  At  present,  land  available 
for  building  in  the  neighbourhood  of  our  populous  centres,  though  its  capi- 
tal value  is  very  great,  is  probably  producing  a  small  yearly  return  until 
it  is  let  for  building.  The  owners  of  this  land  are  rated  [taxed  locally], 
not  in  relation  to  the  real  value,  but  to  the  actual  annual  income.  They 
can  thus  afford  to  keep  their  land  out  of  the  market,  and  to  part  with 
only  small  quantities,  so  as  to  raise  the  price  beyond  the  actual  monopoly 
price  which  the  land  would  command  by  its  advantages  of  position. 
Meantime,  the  general  expenditure  of  the  town  on  improvements  is  in- 
creasing the  value  of  their  property.  If  this  land  were  rated  [taxed  lo- 
cally] at,  say,  four  per  cent,  on  its  selling  value,  the  owners  would  have  a 
more  direct  incentive  to  part  with  it  to  those  who  are  desirous  of  building, 
and  a  twofold  advantage  would  result  to  the  community.  First,  all  the 
valuable  property  would  contribute  to  the  rates  [loc^al  taxes],  and  thus 
the  burden  on  the  occupiers  would  be  diminished  by  the  -increase  in  the 
rateable  property.  Secondly,  the  owners  of  the  building  land  would  be 
forced  to  offer  their  land  for  sale,  and  thus  their  competition  with  one 
another  would  bring  down  the  price  of  building  land,  and  so  diminish  the 
tax  in  the  shape  of  ground  rent,  or  price  jiaid  for  land,  which  is  now 
levied  on  urban  enterprise  by  the  adjacent  land-owners  —  a  tax,  be  it  re- 


454  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

sion  were,  Sir  Charles  W.  Dilke,  Bart,  (chairman), 
H.K.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Cardinal  Manning,  Lord 
Salisbury,  Lord  Brownlow,  Lord  Carrington,  George  J. 
Goschen,  Sir  E.  A.  Cross,  Et.  Eev.  W.  Walshaw  How, 
Bishop  of  Bedford;  Hon.  E.  Lyulph  Stanle}-,  ^Y.  McCul- 
logh  Torrens,  Henry  Broadhurst,  George  Godwin,  F.E.S., 
Samuel  Morley,  Sir  George  Harrison,  E.  Dw;y'er  Gray  and 
Jesse  Collings.  The  large  majority  of  the  commissioners 
seem  to  have  apjjroved  of  this  proposal.  At  any  rate, 
but  three  formally  dissented  from  it — Salisbury,  Goschen 
and  Cross. 

While  on  this  trip  to  Great  Britain  Mr.  George,  as  on 
former  occasions,  met  many  people  interesting  to  him, 
but  one  of  particular  interest  was  the  Et.  Hon.  James 
Bryce,  notable  in  literature  and  politics,  and  who,  the 
American  found  on  personal  contact,  bore  out  his  reputa- 
tion for  broadness  of  mind  and  democracy  of  spirit.  The 
two  men  had  a  long  talk  on  subjects  of  common  interest 
to  them.     Mr.  Bryce  says  of  this  meeting: 

"]\Ir.  George  quite  won  the  heart  of  my  sister  by  ad- 
miring her  cat  which  was  quite  a  privileged  character  in 
our  household — so  privileged  that  it  walked  over  my 
papers  with  impunity  and  spoiled  many  of  'The  Ameri- 
can Commonwealth'  proofs  by  lying  down  on  them  while 
the  ink  was  fresh." 

Mr.  George  intended  to  do  some  lecturing  on  reaching 
home,  but  the  general  lecture  season  had  been  bad  and 
two  or  three  that  he  tried  proved  unprofitable  financially. 

meiiibered,  which  is  no  recompense  for  any  industry  or  expenditure  on 
their  part,  but  is  the  natural  result  of  the  industry  and  activity  of  the 
townspeople  themselves.  Your  Majesty's  Commissioners  would  recom- 
mend that  these  matters  should  be  included  in  legislation  when  the  law 
of  rating  comes  to  be  dealt  with  by  Parliament." 


Age,  45-47]  CONVERSATION  WITH  FIELD  455 

He  therefore  settled  down  to  writing,  which  engaged  him 
mainly  until  the  close  of  the  summer  of  the  next  year, 
1886.  Articles  for  the  "North  American  Keview"  con- 
stituted much  of  this  writing.  First  appeared  in  the  July 
number,  1885,  a  "conversation"'  on  the  subject  of  "Land 
and  Taxation"  between  him,  representing  his  own  ideas, 
and  the  eminent  jurist,  David  Dudley  Field,  speaking 
for  the  established  ideas.  The  managing  editor  of  the 
"Eeview,"  Lorettus  S.  Metcalf,  brought  the  gentlemen  to- 
gether at  luncheon  and  explained  that  in  order  to  place 
in  juxtaposition  the  two  views  he  would  ask  them  to  con- 
verse, each  from  his  own  standpoint,  on  the  subject  of 
"Land  and  Taxation,"  while  a  shorthand  writer  should 
take  down  all  that  was  said.  Of  this  matter  Mr.  Metcalf 
later  said: 

"The  gentlemen  had  not  met  before,  but  they  quickly 
measured  each  other  and  fell  into  cordial,  easy,  deferen- 
tial interchange  of  thought.  The  remarkable  feature  of 
this  meeting  was  the  exhibition  on  both  sides  of  the  art 
of  exact  expression.  So  accurately  did  each  speak  that, 
except  to  catch  typographical  errors,  not  a  single  change 
was  made  in  either  manuscript  or  proof.  The  conver- 
sation was  a  marvel  of  clear  thinking  and  precise  utter- 
ance." 


Mr.  George  alway.s  considered  that  he  had  by  far  the 
better  part  of  the  conversation;  indeed,  later  he  had 
the  article  reprinted  in  tract  form  for  general  circulation. 

In  the  "North  American  Eeview"  for  February,  1886, 
the  author  had  an  article  treating  of  trans-Atlantic  social 
and  political  affairs  under  the  caption  of  "England  and 
Ireland";  and  in  the  April  number  one  entitled,  "More 
about  American  Landlordism,"  showing  the  concentrat- 
ing tendency  of  ownership.     Mr.  Metcalf  had  now  with- 


456  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

drawn  from  the  management  of  the  "Xorth  American 
Eeview"  and  James  Eedpath,  who  took  his  place,  engaged 
Mr,  George  to  write  a  series  of  articles  on  "Labour  in 
Pennsylvania" — Pennsylvania,  the  home  of  "protection" 
and  strikes.  The  author  visited  the  State  and  presented 
in  four  numbers  between  August,  188(3,  and  January, 
1887,  his  findings,  based  largely  upon  official  statements 
and  the  evidence  of  the  labourers  themselves.  The  arti- 
cles related  chiefly  to  the  great  coal  and  iron  regions 
owned  by  a  comparatively  few  men,  each  in  his  own  dis- 
trict as  autocratic  as  a  baron  of  old,  for,  said  the  writer, 
reaching  the  bottom  of  his  conclusions,  "the  power  of  the 
sole  landlord  enables  the  operator  or  superintendent  to 
exercise  such  control  as  he  cares  to  and  may  deem  pru- 
dent. He  may  enact  dog  laws,  goat  laws,  chicken  laws, 
liquor  laws,  or  any  other  laws  that  he  pleases,  short  of 
the  point  of  producing  a  general  revolt;  may  regulate 
trade  and  control  amusements." 

But  though  these  magazine  articles  engrossed  much  of 
his  time,  what  chiefly  absorbed  him  after  his  return  from 
Scotland  up  to  the  middle  of  1886  was  the  completion 
and  publication  of  the  book,  "Protection  or  Free  Trade  ?" 
Some  of  the  chapters  of  this  work  had  appeared  in  serial 
form  in  a  combination  of  newspapers  in  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1885.  From  this  the  author  obtained  nearly 
$3,000,  which  more  than  paid  for  the  printing  in  book 
form  early  in  1886.  The  latter  he  concluded  to  do  him- 
self under  the  name  of  Henry  George  &  Co.,  his  son, 
Eichard,  being,  in  James  Eedpath's  language,  "Co."  The 
office  was  in  Astor  Place,  New  York,  in  joint  occupancy 
with  an  agency  of  Porter  &  Coates,  Philadelphia  publish- 
ers, the  representative  of  which  was  Gaybert  Barnes, 
whose  acquaintance  had  been  made  through  William 
Swinton.     Besides  handling  the  new  book,  Henry  George 


Age,  45^7]  TOM   L.  JOHNSON  457 

&  Co.   became  the  sole  publishers  of  the  cloth  editions 
of  the  other  George  works. 

It  was  while  he  was  putting  the  new  book  through  the 
newspapers  that  the  acquaintance  with  Tom  L.  Johnson 
began.  Mr.  Johnson  was  a  young  man  of  just  thirty-one, 
flushed  with  success  as  an  inventor  and  Western  street 
railroad  manager  and  owner.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky 
of  a  line  famous  in  that  State's  politics.  His  father  had 
been  a  planter  and  had  lost  all  in  the  Civil  War.  Young 
Tom,  with  little  more  than  a  year's  schooling,  went  to 
work  at  fifteen  and  quickly  developed  a  mechanical  and 
managing  genius,  which,  with  the  acquisition  of  street 
railroad  franchises  in  Cleveland  and  other  cities,  rapidly 
led  to  fortune.  One  day  in  a  railroad  car  he  bought  and 
read  Henry  George's  "Social  Problems."  That  led  him 
to  read  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  to  accept  the  doc- 
trines that  these  books  taught,  even  though  their  funda- 
mental principle  was  based  upon  the  destruction  of 
monopolies,  the  very  things  that  were  the  source  of  his  rap- 
idly increasing  wealth.  It  was  when  he  came  to  Brook- 
lyn to  purchase  a  street  railroad  that  he  called  on  Mr. 
George.     He  says  of  this  interview: 

"I  had  looked  forward  with  more  intense  interest  to 
the  meeting  than  I  was  aAvaro  of,  for  when  I  tried  to 
speak  in  a  manly  way  of  what  was  in  my  heart,  I  was 
conscious  of  much  emotion.  I  said  that  I  should  rather 
have  it  to  say  to  my  children  that  I  had  met  Henry 
George  and  had  entertained  him  under  my  own  roof  as 
my  guest  than  to  be  able  to  transmit  to  them  any  worldly 
blessing. 

"I  did  not  want  to  talk  about  myself.  I  did  not  go 
there  for  that.  I  went  to  talk  to  ]\Ir.  George  about  his 
cause ;  and  I  wanted  in  some  way  to  call  it  my  cause,  too. 
But  he  stretched  out  on  a  lounge  and  I  sat  in  a  chair  and 
I  found  myself  telling  him  the  story  of  my  life. 


458  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORGE  [1884-1886 

"Then  I  said :  'Mr.  George,  your  book  on  the  tariff 
question  will  soon  be  out.  I  want  to  help  to  do  good 
with  it.  I  want  200  copies  so  as  to  send  one  to  each 
lawyer  and  clergyman  in  Cleveland.'  I  also  said  to  him : 
'I  cannot  write,  and  I  cannot  speak.  The  least  I  can 
do  is  to  make  money  with  which  to  push  our  cause.' 

"Mr.  George  answered :  'You  do  not  know  whether  or 
not  3^ou  can  write;  you  have  not  tried.  You  do  not 
know  whether  or  not  you  can  speak ;  you  have  not  tried. 
Take  an  interest  in  political  questions.  It  is  well  enough 
to  make  money,  but  the  abilities  that  can  make  money 
can  do  other  things,  too.' " 


CHAPTEE   VIII. 
CANDIDATE    FOR   MAYOE    OF   NEW   YORK. 

1886.  Age,  47. 

BUSY  during  the  summer  of  1886  in  pressing  the 
circulation  of  his  new  book,  "Protection  or  Free 
Trade?"  and  in  preparing  the  series  of  articles  on  "La- 
bour in  Pennsylvania"  for  the  "North  American  Review"; 
proposing  towards  the  end  of  the  year  to  start  the  long 
thought  of  weekly,  and  contemplating  before  that  another 
short  lecturing  trip  through  Great  Britain,  as  friends 
there  suggested,  Mr.  George  saw  his  time  well  laid  out. 
But  one  day,  while  in  his  office  talking  with  Tom  L. 
Johnson  and  Gaybert  Barnes,  young  Richard  George  en- 
tered with  a  newspaper  that  announced  that  the  labour 
unions  of  the  city  proposed  to  enter  politics  in  the  fall 
in  the  hope  of  bringing  about  better  political  and  social 
conditions  and  intended  to  invite  Henry  George  to  be 
their  candidate  for  mayor.  The  little  group  thought  the 
story  entertaining,  but  none  regarded  it  seriously.  Nor 
did  Mr.  George  think  much  of  the  matter  even  when 
waited  upon  by  a  committee  from  a  conference  of  trade 
and  labour  unions,  which,  representing  nearly  all  the 
labour  organisations  in  New  York,  was  being  held  with 
the  view  to  political  action.  Mr.  George  was  qualified  to 
run  for  the  office,  having  moved  to  Pleasant  Avenue,  New 

459 


460  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886 

York,  but  he  told  the  committee  that  he  had  planned 
important  work  that  he  would  not  like  to  interrupt. 
Nevertheless,  the  committee  after  a  few  days  returned 
and  was  more  urgent.  Mr.  George  told  them  that  he 
was  in  sympathy  with  the  trade  unions  and  that  he  be- 
lieved that  the  remedy  for  the  evils  of  which  they  com- 
plained lay  through  the  ballot,  but  that  trade  union 
candidates  the  year  before  had  not  only  met  with  igno- 
minious defeat,  but  had  not  received  anything  like  the 
united  support  of  the  trade  union  members  themselves. 
He  was  willing  to  stand  for  principle,  he  said,  but  did 
not  wish  to  be  made  ridiculous  by  a  miserably  small  vote. 
Therefore,  he  did  not  care  to  consider  the  matter.  Yet 
again  the  committee  returned,  this  time  to  assure  him 
that,  whereas,  the  unions  the  year  before  had  not  been 
harmonious,  they  were  entirely  so  now;  and  that  though 
there  was  a  long  list  of  offices  to  fill  in  the  fall  election, 
the  unions  would  concentrate  their  entire  efforts  on  the 
single  candidate  for  Mayor. 

Mr.  George  had  meanwhile  been  talking  quietly  to  some 
of  his  friends,  most  of  whom  seemed  extremely  flattered 
over  the  recognition  he  was  getting.  They  were  anxious  to 
use  the  occasion  to  preach  the  land  question  and  the  many 
things  that  it  involved.  Charles  Frederick  Adams  argued 
that  the  great  majority  of  working  men  held  various  and 
confusing  views  and  that  if  George  stood  he  would  supply 
a  clear,  concise,  coherent  body  of  principles,  which,  while 
educating  and  rallying  the  working  men  themselves, 
would  appeal  even  more  strongly  to  the  book-reading, 
thoughtful  elements  of  the  community.  Tom  L.  John- 
son said  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with  conditions  in 
New  York,  but  that  if  George  decided  to  fight,  he  would 
heartily  support.  In  the  emergency  Mr.  George  con- 
sulted Dr.  McGlynn,  who  possessed  a  large  knowledge  of 


Age,47j  THE   MASTER   STROKE  461 

political  afEairs  and  manifested  a  lively  interest  in  this 
particular  matter.     The  Doctor  counselled  him  to  run. 

Matters  were  in  this  state  when  the  labour  committee 
for  the  third  time  waited  upon  Mr.  George  and  urged  him 
to  consider  the  matter  and  to  write  a  formal  letter  to 
James  P.  Archibald,  Secretary  of  the  Labour  Conference, 
either  accepting  or  declining  the  proposition.  Mr.  George 
consented,  for  he  believed  now  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  men  in  the  unions  were  earnestly  looking  to  him 
for  leadership  in  a  fight  against  their  hard  living  condi- 
tions. Then  he  conceived  what  Dr.  McGlynn  called  his 
"master  stroke."  At  the  end  of  August  he  wrote  the 
letter  to  Archibald.  In  it  he  set  forth  fully  and  clearly 
his  own  views  and  stated  that  his  sense  of  duty  would 
not  permit  him  to  refuse  any  part  assigned  to  him  by 
the  common  consent  of  earnest  men  really  bent  upon 
carrying  into  politics  the  principles  he  held  dear.  Yet 
failure  would  hurt  the  very  cause  they  wished  to  help. 
"For  this  reason,"  he  wrote,  "it  seems  to  me  that  the 
only  condition  on  which  it  would  be  wise  in  a  Labour 
Convention  to  nominate  me,  or  on  which  I  should  be  justi- 
fied in  accepting  such  a  nomination,  would  be  that  at  least 
thirty  thousand  citizens  should,  over  their  signatures,  ex- 
press the  wish  that  I  should  become  a  candidate,  and 
pledge  themselves  in  such  case  to  go  to  the  polls  and  vote 
for  me.  This  would  be  a  guarantee  that  there  should  be 
no  ignominious  failure,  and  a  mandate  that  I  could  not 
refuse.  On  this  condition  I  would  accept  the  nomina- 
tion if  tendered  to  me." 

Unusual  and  difficult  of  fulfilment  as  this  condition 
was,  it  was  nevertheless  hailed  by  the  labour  bodies  not 
only  in  New  York  but  elsewhere  with  many  marks  of 
satisfaction  and  enthusiasm.  This  was  particularly 
shown  at  the  annual  Labour  Day  parade  early  in  Sep- 


462  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [igse 

tember,  which  Mr.  George  was  invited  to  review  in  Union 
Square  with  the  then  mayor  of  the  city,  William  R. 
Grace. 

The  working  men  were  without  political  machinery 
and  the  election  laws  at  the  time  made  party  machinery 
greatly  advantageous.  The  laws  were  such  as  to  make 
bribery,  intimidation,  and  miscounting  so  common  a 
practice  as  to  give  singular  force  to  the  cynical  observa- 
tion of  a  Democratic  subordinate  manager,  who  said: 
"How  can  George  win?  He  has  no  inspectors  of  elec- 
tion!" Nevertheless,  the  way  signatures  to  George 
pledges  were  rolling  in  daunted  and  even  frightened  the 
Democratic  leaders;  for  a  large  part  of  George  strength 
was  developing  in  what  had  been  Democratic  strongholds. 

New  York  City  was,  and  under  one  name  or  another  had 
been  for  the  most  part  since  the  organisation  of  the  Tam- 
many charitable  and  political  society  a  hundred  years  be- 
fore, strongly  Democratic.  That  society  had  started  out 
with  Jeffersonian  principles  and  an  opposition  to  aris- 
tocracy and  Hamilton's  federalism,  but  long  years  of  po- 
litical power  had  corrupted  its  principles  and  made  it  the 
instrument  of  the  unscrupulous,  until  the  Tweed  expo- 
sures in  the  seventies  made  its  name  synonymous  with 
political  debauchery.^  Tammany  went  into  eclipse  and  a 
regenerated  party  under  the  name  of  County  Democracy 
arose  triumphant.  But  power  corrupted  that,  too,  and 
it  fell  into  the  hands  of  professional  politicians,  though 
it  retained  in  its  membership  list  many  of  the  respectable 
names  with  which  it  had  started  out.  In  the  last  pre- 
ceding  city   election  the   County   Democracy   party   had 

1  In  exposing  the  naturalisation  frauds,  Dr.  Montague  R.  Leversou 
struck  the  first  blow  at  Tammany,  though  it  was  not  until  later,  when 
evidences  of  the  theft  of  public  money  were  obtained,  that  the  Tweed 
ring  fell. 


Age,  47]  TALK  WITH  W.  M.  H^INS  463 

elected  William  E.  Grace  to  the  mayoralty.  Xow  both 
factions  saw  a  common  danger  in  the  rise  of  George. 
They,  therefore,  sent  a  joint  emissary  to  wait  upon  the 
proposed  labour  candidate.  About  this  interview  Mr. 
George  a  few  days  before  his  death  said:^ 

"Before  my  nomination  had  formally  taken  place  I 
received  a  request  from  Mr.  William  M.  Ivins,  then 
Chamberlain  of  the  city,  and  a  close  political  friend  and 
representative  of  Mr.  Grace,  to  privately  meet  him.  I 
did  so  at  Seighortner's,  on  Lafayette  Place.  We  sat 
down  in  a  private  room,  unattended,  and  smoked  some 
cigars  together.  Mr.  Ivins  insisted  that  I  could  not 
possibly  be  elected  Mayor  of  New  York,  no  matter  how 
many  people  might  vote  for  me ;  that  the  men  who  voted 
knew  nothing  of  the  real  forces  that  dominated  New 
York.  He  said  that  I  could  not  possibly  be  counted  in. 
He  offered  on  behalf  of  Tammany  Hall  and  the  County 
Democracy  that  if  I  would  refuse  the  nomination  for 
mayor  they  would  run  me  for  Congress,  select  a  city 
district  in  which  the  nomination  of  the  two  was  equiva- 
lent to  election;  that  I  should  be  at  no  expense  what- 
ever, but  might  go  to  Europe  or  anywhere  I  willed,  and 
when  I  came  back  should  receive  a  certificate  of  election 
to  the  House  of  Eepresentatives.  I  said  to  him  finally : 
'You  tell  me  I  cannot  possibly  get  the  office.  Why,  if 
I  cannot  possibly  get  the  office,  do  you  want  me  to  with- 
draw ?'  His  reply  was :  'You  cannot  be  elected,  but  your 
running  will  raise  hell !'  I  said :  'You  have  relieved  me 
of  embarrassment.  I  do  not  want  the  responsibility  and 
the  work  of  the  office  of  the  Mayor  of  New  York,  but  I 
do  want  to  raise  hell !     I  am  decided  and  will  run.^ " 

It  was  not  the  office  he  Avas  after;  he  wanted  to  plant 
the  seed.  He  wrote  to  Taylor  (September  10)  :  "It  is 
by  no  means  impossible  that  I  shall  be  elected.     But  the 

1  Published  reply  to  statement  made  in  the  newspapers  by  Abram  S. 
Hewitt,  October,  1897. 


464  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886 

one  thing  sure  is  that  if  I  do  go  into  the  fight  the  cam- 
paign will  bring  the  land  question  into  practical  politics 
and  do  more  to  popularise  its  discussion  than  years  of 
writing  would  do.     This  is  the  only  temptation  to  me." 

Election  really  looked  more  than  possible — even  prob- 
able. With  four  other  candidates  in  the  field — Eepubli- 
can,  Prohibitionist,  and  one  for  each  of  the  Democratic 
factions — it  was  estimated  that  George  would  require  for 
election  little  more  than  twice  the  thirty  thousand  votes 
guaranteed  in  the  pledges  noAv  being  rapidly  signed; 
whereas,  the  labour  organisations  themselves  were  sup- 
posed to  have  a  membership  of  sixty-five  thousand.  The 
nominating  convention  of  the  Trade  and  Labour  Confer- 
ence took  place  in  Clarendon  Hall  on  September  23.  It 
adopted  a  platform  written  by  Henry  George,  which  the 
"New  York  World"  characterised  as  "an  epitome  of  Mr. 
George's  popular  essay  entitled  'Progress  and  Poverty.' " 
One  hundred  and  seventy-five  labour  organisations  were 
represented  by  409  delegates,  from  whom  George  received 
on  the  first  ballot  360  votes,  while  31  votes  were  cast  for 
a  popular  furniture  dealer  named  J.  J.  Coogan;  and  1&, 
purely  by  way  of  compliment,  for  William  S.  Thorn,  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Second  Avenue  Eailroad,  who  had 
treated  his  men  extremely  well.  The  proceedings  were 
remarkable  for  enthusiasm  and  harmony  among  the  usually 
hostile  and  warring  factions  of  the  labour  bodies.  Sel- 
dom before  had  labour  representatives  manifested  such 
confidence  of  success  in  a  political  contest. 

And  interest  in  the  nomination  extended  beyond  the 
labour  unions.  It  sprang  up  among  "that  great  body  of 
citizens,"  said  Mr.  George,  "who,  though  not  working  men 
in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term,  feel  the  bitterness  of 
the  struggle  for  existence  as  much  as  does  the  manual 
labourer,  and  are  as  deeply  conscious  of  the  corruptions 


Age,  47]  BEYOND  THE  LABOUR  UNIONS  465 

of  our  politics  and  the  wrong  of  our  social  system." 
These  had  not  to  any  number  signed  the  pledge  to  vote 
for  George,  but  they  gave  voice  to  their  support  by  a 
meeting  in  Chickering  Hall  on  October  2,  at  which  Eev. 
John  W.  Kramer  presided,  and  Eev.  Dr.  R.  Heber  New- 
ton, Professor  Thomas  Davidson,  Daniel  DeLeon,  Ph.D. 
of  Columbia  College;  Charles  F.  Wingate,  Professor 
David  B.  Scott  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  Kew  York, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  McGl}Tin  spoke.  The  meeting 
packed  the  hall  and  with  a  roar  of  approval  passed  reso- 
lutions indorsing  George's  nomination  by  the  Trade  and 
Labour  Conference. 

Dr.  McGlynn  spoke,  said  one  who  heard  him,  "as  if  he 
expected  that  night  to  be  his  last."  And  it  was  a  mighty 
moment  in  his  life.  He  had  been  forbidden  by  his  eccle- 
siastical superior  to  speak.  Some  days  before  Archbishop 
Corrigan  had  written  Dr.  McGlynn  expressing  anxiety 
about  the  latter's  "relations  with  Henry  George"  and 
hoping  that  he  would  'leave  aside"  anything  that  would 
seem  "to  coincide  with  socialism."  In  order  to  show 
what  manner  of  man  Henry  George  was  and  the  true 
nature  of  his  teachings,  Dr.  McGlynn  suggested  that  Mr. 
George  call  on  the  Archbishop,  which  he  did,  bearing  a 
letter  of  introduction  from  Dr.  McGlynn.  The  Arch- 
bishop received  Mr.  George  courteously,  but  was  not  pre- 
pared to  hear  him  explain  the  land  doctrine,  as  he  said, 
after  giving  a  history  of  the  case,  that  Dr.  McGlynn  had 
violated  an  understanding  made  in  1882  that  he  was  to 
make  no  more  public  utterances.  "The  Archbishop  told 
me,"  said  Mr.  George  afterwards,^  "that  he  had  called  his 
council  to  meet  at  twelve  that  day  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  into  consideration  the  case  of  Dr.  McGlynn,  and 

1  "The  Standard,"  January  8,  1887. 


466  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886 

as  I  understood  at  the  time,  of  suspending  him."'  "On 
leaving  the  Archbishop,'"  continued  Mr.  George,  "I  called 
on  Dr.  McGrlynn  and  informed  him  of  the  result  of  my 
interview.  He  said  that  his  understanding  of  the  prom- 
ise he  had  felt  himself  obliged  to  make  in  1882  was  that 
he  should  deliver  no  more  speecnes  on  the  Irish  question, 
which  promise  he  had  kept;  that  he  had  since  made 
speeches  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Cleveland  [during  the  presi- 
dential canvass]  to  which  there  had  been  no  remonstrances 
whatever,  and  that  he  had  not  up  to  that  time  received 
any  inhibition  from  speaking  at  the  Chickering  Hall 
meeting;  yet  even  should  one  come,  he  could  not,  now 
that  he  had  been  announced  to  speak,  refrain  from  doing 
so  consistently  with  his  own  self-respect  and  without  pub- 
licly renouncing  the  rights  of  an  American  citizen." 

Then  it  was  that  Dr.  McGlynn  received  a  letter  from 
the  Archbishop  forbidding  him  to  take  part  in  the  Chick- 
ering Hall  meeting  or  "to  take  any  part  in  future  in  any 
political  meeting  whatever  without  permission  of  the  Sa- 
cred Congregation  of  Propaganda  Fide."  Other  priests 
who  were  expected  to  attend  the  meeting  and  speak  had 
been  warned  and  stayed  away.  But  the  jDastor  of  St. 
Stephen's  attended  and  spoke  as  never  before  in  his  life. 
Nor  did  any — not  even  Mr.  George — know  for  many  days 
after  the  campaign  was  over  that  on  the  morning  fol- 
lowing the  meeting  Archbishop  Corrigan  had  suspended 
Dr.  McGlynn  for  two  weeks. 

The  formal  nomination  of  Henry  George  having  been 
made  by  the  labour  conference  and  indorsed  by  business 
and  professional  men  in  public  meeting,  a  formal  accept- 
ance was  arranged  to  take  place  in  the  historic  Cooper 
Union  Hall  on  October  5.  The  multitude  was  so  great  that 
Mr.  George  had  some  difficulty  in  squeezing  in,  and  an 
immense   overflow   meeting   took   place   outside.     Several 


Age,  47]  COOPER  UNION  NOMINATION  467 

large  bundles  eontaiuing  the  signatures  of  more  than 
thirty-four  thousand  voters  who  had  pledged  them- 
selves to  support  George  at  the  polls  were,  amid  much 
excitement,  passed  in  over  men's  heads  and  placed  upon 
the  edge  of  the  platform  in  general  view.  Rev.  Mr. 
Kramer  first  presented  the  resolutions  of  the  Chickering 
Hall  meeting  to  John  McMackin,  Chairman  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Labour  Party,  and  then  Mr.  Mc- 
Mackin tendered  the  nomination  with  its  indorsement  to 
Mr.  George,  who  on  rising  was  received  with  a  long  ova- 
tion of  cheering.     When  quiet  was  restored  he  said: 

"The  step  I  am  about  to  take  has  not  been  entered 
upon  lightly.  When  my  nomination  for  Mayor  of  New 
York  was  first  talked  of  I  regarded  it  as  a  nomination 
which  was  not  to  be  thought  about.  I  did  not  desire  to 
be  Mayor  of  New  York.  I  have  had  in  my  time  political 
ambition,  but  years  ago  I  gave  it  up.  I  saw  what  prac- 
tical politics  meant;  I  saw  that  under  the  conditions  as 
they  were  a  man  who  would  make  a  political  career  must 
cringe  and  fawn  and  intrigue  and  flatter,  and  I  resolved 
that  I  should  not  so  degrade  my  manhood.  Another 
career  opened  to  me;  the  path  that  I  had  chosen — that 
my  eyes  were  fixed  upon — was  rather  that  of  a  pioneer — 
that  of  the  men  Avho  go  in  advance  of  politics,  the  men 
who  break  the  road  that  after  they  have  gone  will  be 
trod  by  millions.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  lay  duty 
and  that  there  lay  my  career,  and  since  this  nomination 
has  been  talked  about  my  friends  here  and  through  the 
country  and  beyond  the  seas  have  sent  me  letter  after 
letter,  asking  me  not  to  lower,  as  they  are  pleased  to 
term  it,  the  position  I  occupied  by  running  for  a  muni- 
cipal office.  But  I  believe,  and  have  long  believed,  that 
working  men  ought  to  go  into  politics.  I  believe,  and  I 
have  long  believed,  that  tlirough  politics  was  the  way, 
and  the  only  way,  by  which  anything  real  and  perma- 
nent coTild  be  secured  for  labour.  In  that  path,  however, 
I  did  not  expect  to  tread.     That,  I  thought,  would  do- 


468  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i886 

volve  upon  others,  but  when  the  secretary  of  this  nomi- 
nating convention  came  to  me  and  said,  'You  are  the  only 
man  upon  whom  we  can  unite,  and  I  want  you  to  write 
me  a  letter  either  accepting  or  refusing  to  accept  and 
giving  your  reasons,'  that  put  a  different  face  on  the 
matter.  When  it  came  that  way  I  could  not  refuse,  but 
I  made  my  conditions.  I  asked  for  a  guarantee  of  good 
faith ;  I  asked  for  some  tangible  evidence  that  my  fellow- 
citizens  of  New  York  really  wanted  me  to  act.  That 
evidence  you  have  given  me :     All  I  asked,  and  more." 

The  office  of  Mayor  of  New  York,  he  said,  important 
though  it  was,  was  fettered  by  commissions,  the  occu- 
pants of  only  two  of  which  he  could  remove.  But  still 
he  had  the  power  of  visitation  and  inquisition — of  find- 
ing out  how  things  were  going — and  the  further  power 
of  appealing  to  the  people;  and  those  powers  he  pro- 
posed, if  elected,  to  use  to  their  utmost  and  to  destroy 
political  corruption.  But  the  mayoralty  movement  meant 
even  more.  Chattel  slavery  was  dead;  there  now  devolved 
upon  them  the  task  of  removing  industrial  slavery. 

''We  have  hordes  of  citizens  living  in  want  and  in  vice 
born  of  want,  existing  under  conditions  that  would  appall 
heathen.  Is  this  by  the  will  of  our  Divine  Creator  ?  No. 
It  is  the  fault  of  men;  and  as  men  and  citizens,  on  us 
devolves  the  duty  of  removing  this  wrong;  and  in  that 
platform  which  the  convention  has.  adopted  and  on 
which  I  stand  the  first  step  is  taken.  Why  should  there 
be  such  abject  poverty  in  this  city?  There  is  one 
great  fact  that  stares  in  the  face  any  one  who  chooses  to 
look  at  it.  That  fact  is  that  the  vast  majority  of  men 
and  women  and  children  in  New  York  have  no  legal 
right  to  live  here  at  all.  Most  of  us — ninety-nine  per 
cent,  at  least — must  pay  the  other  one  per  cent,  by  the 
week  or  month  or  quarter  for  the  privilege  of  staying 
here  and  working  like  slaves.     .     .     . 

"Now,  is  there  any  reason  for  such  over-crowding? 


Age,  47]  HERE  HE  MADE  A  VOW  469 

There  is  plenty  of  room  on  this  island.  There  are  miles 
and  miles  and  miles  of  land  all  around  this  nucleus. 
Why  cannot  we  take  that  and  build  houses  upon  it  for 
our  accommodation?  Simply  because  it  is  held  by  dogs 
in  the  manger  who  will  not  use  it  themselves  nor  allow 
anybody  else  to  use  it,  unless  he  pays  an  enormous  price 
for  it — because  what  the  Creator  intended  for  the  habi- 
tation of  the  people  whom  He  called  into  being  is  held 
at  an  enormous  rent  or  an  enormous  price. 

"But  what  do  we  propose  to  do  about  it  ?  We  propose, 
in  the  first  place,  as  our  platform  indicates,  to  make  the 
buildings  cheaper,  by  taking  the  tax  ofE  buildings.  We 
propose  to  put  that  tax  on  land  exclusive  of  improve- 
ments, so  that  a  man  who  is  holding  land  vacant  will 
have  to  pay  as  much  for  it  as  if  he  was  using  it,  just 
upon  the  same  principle  that  a  man  who  should  go  to  a 
hotel  and  hire  a  room  and  take  the  key  and  go  away  would 
have  to  pay  as  much  for  it  as  if  he  had  occupied  the 
room  and  slept  in  it.  In  that  way  we  propose  to  drive 
out  the  dog  in  the  manger  who  is  holding  from  you  what 
he  will  not  use  himself.  We  propose  in  that  way  to  re- 
move this  barrier  and  open  the  land  to  the  use  of  labour 
in  putting  up  buildings  for  the  accomodation  of  the 
people  of  the  city.     .     .     . 

"I  am  your  candidate  for  Mayor  of  New  York.  It  is 
something  that  a  little  while  ago  I  never  dreamt  of. 
Years  ago  I  came  to  this  city  from  the  West,  unknown, 
knowing  nobody,  and  I  saw  and  recognised  for  the  first 
time  the  shocking  contrast  between  monstrous  wealth 
and  debasing  want.  And  here  I  made  a  vow,  from 
which  I  have  never  faltered,  to  seek  out  and  remedy, 
if  I  could,  the  cause  that  condemned  little  children  to 
lead  such  lives  as  you  know  them  to  lead  in  the  squalid 
districts.  It  is  because  of  that  that  I  stand  before  you 
to-night,  presenting  myself  for  the  chief  office  of  your 
city — espousing  the  cause,  not  only  of  your  rights  but  of 
those  who  are  weaker  than  you.  Think  of  it !  Little 
ones  dying  by  thousands  in  this  city ;  a  veritable  slaugh- 
ter of  the  innocents  before  their  time  has  come.  Is  it 
not  our  duty  as  citizens  to  address  ourselves  to  the  ad- 


470  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORGE  [I886 

justment  of  social  wrongs  that  force  out  of  the  world 
those  who  are  called  into  it  almost  before  they  are  here — 
that  social  wrong  that  forces  girls  upon  the  streets  and 
our  boys  into  the  grog  shops  and  then  into  penitenti- 
aries? We  are  beginning  a  movement  for  the  abolition 
of  industrial  slavery,  and  what  we  do  on  this  side  of  the 
water  will  send  its  impulse  across  the  land  and  over  the 
sea,  and  give  courage  to  all  men  to  think  and  act.  Let 
us,  therefore,  stand  together.  Let  us  do  everything  that 
is  possible  for  men  to  do  from  now  until  the  second  of 
next  month,  that  success  may  crown  our  efforts,  and  that 
to  us  in  this  city  may  belong  the  honour  of  having  led 
the  van  in  this  great  movement." 

The  press  gave  large  reports  of  the  meeting.  All  of 
them  confessed  that  George,  because  of  his  high  char- 
acter and  personal  abilities,  and  because  of  the  unprece- 
dented signs  of  harmony  among  the  labour  unions  in 
support  of  him,  would  be  an  important  factor  in  the  muni- 
cipal contest.  Most  of  the  papers  did  not  seem  to  know 
exactly  what  attitude  to  assume  as  yet.  Only  two  of 
them  showed  do^\^lright  ill  will,  "The  Daily  Illustrated 
Graphic"  calling  George  another  Jack  Cade  and  the 
"Evening  Post"  saying  that  while  not  apprehending  his 
election,  he  might  "get  a  vote  large  enough  to  demoralise 
the  officers  of  the  law  and  diminish  the  protection  we 
now  enjoy  against  mob  violence." 

By  voluntary  contributions  and  assessments,  the  labour 
unions  raised  some  money  for  the  uses  of  the  election 
committee,  though  the  amount  was  inadequate  to  meet 
even  the  necessary  and  legitimate  needs  imposed  by  the 
election  laws,  which,  among  other  things,  required  each 
party  to  print  and  distribute  its  own  tickets.  The  cam- 
paign on  the  working  men's  side  began  and  ended  with  few 
brass  bands  and  little  red  fire.  The  working  men's  head- 
quarters on  Eighth  Street  were  anything  but  garish;  nor 


Age,  47]  AUGUST  LEWIS'  FRIENDSHIP  471 

was  there  any  show  or  pretence  about  Mr.  George's  head- 
quarters in  the  Colonnade  Hotel,  around  the  corner  on 
Broadway.  Most  of  the  work  was  done  by  volunteers, 
and  hall  rent  for  some  of  the  larger  meetings,  at  least, 
was,  contrary  to  all  political  usage,  collected  from  the 
audience  by  "passing  the  hat."  Other  money  came  from 
some  of  Mr.  George's  close  friends,  chiefly  from  Tom 
L.  Johnson;  and  some,  in  small  sums,  came  through  the 
mails  from  unknown  sympathisers  in  the  city  and  outside. 

A  notable  contribution  was  a  cheque  for  $100  from  a 
stranger,  August  Lewis  of  August  Lewis  &  Co.,  straw 
goods  importers  and  manufacturers  on  Greene  Street,  jSTew 
York.  The  cheque  was  accompanied  by  a  short  note  of 
good  will,  and  Mr.  Lewis  soon  afterwards  followed  this 
by  a  personal  visit.  He  was  born  in  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Germany,  of  Jewish  parents  and  received  an  ordinary 
grammar  school  education.  Coming  to  this  country  in 
1869,  whither  some  members  of  his  family-  had  preceded 
him,  he  joined  one  of  them  in  business.  As  a  member  of 
the  Society  for  Political  Education  he  had  in  1882  re- 
ceived one  of  the  complimentary  copies  of  "Progress  and 
Poverty"  presented  to  that  organisation  by  Francis  G. 
Shaw;  but  not  until  Mr.  George  was  a  candidate  and 
began  to  be  vigorously  discussed  in  the  newspapers  did 
Mr.  Lewis  read  the  book.  It  immediately  did  for  him 
what  it  had  done  for  Mr.  Shaw — brought  him  hope  where 
before  had  been  despair  of  the  social  problem.  And 
feeling  so,  though  it  ran  counter  to  his  political  habits 
and  social  affiliations,  Mr.  Lewis  gave  Henry  George  his 
moral  and  material  support.  He  quickly  took  his  place 
as  one  of  Mr.  George's  closest  friends,  and  in  the  end 
he  shared  witli  Tom  L.  Johnson  the  honour  of  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  philosopher's  last  book. 

Mr.  George's  refusal  to  withdraw  from  the  mayoralty 


/ 


472  LEFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [igge 

contest,  and  his  rapidly  gathering  strength  left  little  hope 
of  victory  for  the  Democracy,  save  in  the  course  some  of 
the  party  papers  urged — the  union  of  the  two  factions. 
But  it  was  evident  when  the  Tammany  convention  met 
on  October  11,  that  a  considerable  number  of  the  dele- 
gates were  for  George  and  would  have  favoured  his  in- 
dorsement. But  the  little  group  controlling  the  machine 
had  no  thought  of  such  a  thing.  Yet  they  did  not  see 
hope  in  a  candidate  from  their  own  factional  ranks.  They 
therefore  selected  a  man  identified  with  the  other  faction 
— Abram  S.  Hewitt.  Hewitt's  name  was  presented  to 
the  convention  and  the  perfunctory  form  of  nomination 
was  gone  through  with  by  the  delegates,  though  few  of 
them  had  had  a  hint  of  w^hat  was  coming  and  astonish- 
ment for  a  time  was  supreme. 

Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  of  the  large  iron  manufacturing 
firm  of  Cooper,  Hewitt  &  Co.  He  was  son-in-law  of  the 
then  late  philanthropist,  Peter  Cooper,  and  brother-in- 
law  of  Edward  Cooper,  sometime  Mayor  of  New  York. 
For  years  he  had  been  Congressman  from  New  York. 
He  was  the  same  Abram  S.  Hewitt  who  in  1880  had 
spoken  in  praise  of  "Progress  and  Poverty''  to  William 
H.  Appleton,  the  publisher,  and  who,  through  Mr.  Apple- 
ton,  had  invited  an  acquaintance  with  Mr.  George,  whom 
he  engaged  privately  to  work  on  a  Congressional  report, 
which  work  was  discontinued  on  Hewitt's  refusal  longer 
to  pay  what  George  regarded  as  reasonable  compensation. 
Their  agreement  had  been  for  privacy  on  both  sides,  as 
the  Congressman  intended  to  use  the  report  as  his  own; 
but  Hewitt  now,  during  the  mayoralty  campaign,  broke 
the  seal  of  confidence,  and  gave  to  one  of  the  newspapers 
a  story  that  George  had  once  been  his  secretary,  but  had 
to  be  discharged  because  he  would  run  the  land  tax  into 
everything.     No  response  was  made  to  this  at  the  time, 


Age,  47]  ABRAM  HEWITT'S  CANDIDACY  473 

but  eleven  years  later,  during  the  second  mayoralty  can- 
vass, when  Mr.  Hewitt  was  reported  to  have  made  some 
personal  statements  about  him  that  called  for  reply,  Mr. 
George  dictated  to  a  stenographer  a  statement  of  the  1880 
episode,  although  afterwards  he  concluded  that  the  occa- 
sion was  inappropriate  to  publish  it. 

Mr.  Hewitt  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  took  the  ground 
that  he  had  been  called  upon  to  save  society. 


"An  attempt  is  being  made  to  organise  one  class  of 
our  citizens  against  all  other  classes,  and  to  place  the 
government  of  the  city  in  the  hands  of  men  willing  to 
represent  the  special  interests  of  this  class,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  just  rights  of  the  other  classes.  The  in- 
jurious effects  arising  from  the  conclusion  that  any  con- 
siderable portion  of  our  people  desire  to  substitute  the 
ideas  of  anarchists,  nihilists,  communists,  socialists,  and 
mere  theorists  for  the  democratic  principle  of  indi- 
vidual liberty,  which  involves  the  right  to  private  prop- 
erty, would  react  with  the  greatest  severity  upon  those 
who  depend  upon  their  daily  labour  for  their  daily  bread, 
and  who  are  looking  forward  to  a  better  condition  for 
themselves  and  their  children  by  the  accumulation  of 
capital  through  abstinence  and  economy.  The  horrors 
of  the  French  Eevolution  and  the  atrocities  of  the  Com- 
mune offer  conclusive  proof  of  the  dreadful  consequences 
of  doctrines  which  can  only  be  enforced  by  revolution 
and  bloodshed,  even  when  reduced  to  practice  by  men  of 
good  intentions  and  blameless  private  life.*' 


Mr.  Hewitt  seemed  to  believe  that  since  he  was  under- 
taking to  defend  social  order  and  institutions  against 
"anarchists,  nihilists,  communists,  socialists  and  mere 
theorists,"  the  Eepublicans  should  make  common  cause 
with  him  and  support  him.  But  the  Eepublicans  cleaved 
to  themselves  and  nominated  for  mayor  an  able  young 


474  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [i886 

man  of  large  personal  fortune  and  artistocratic  connec- 
tions and  ideas — Theodore  Eoosevelt. 

Practically  all  the  politicians  and  all  the  daily  press 
except  the  "Volks  Zeitung"  and  a  little  paper  called  "The 
Leader,"  which  had  started  for  the  campaign  and  of 
which  Louis  F.  Post  was  made  the  editor/  were  now  in 
full  cry  against  George;  and  the  lies,  intentional  and 
accidental,  that  one  paper  started  the  others  took  up  and 
circulated.  For  instance,  George  was  reported  by  the 
"Sun"  to  have  said  in  a  speech  that  with  all  its  horrors 
the  great  epoch  of  the  French  Eevolution  was  about  to 
repeat  itself,  and  the  "Evening  Post,"  with  a  seeming 
malice  prepense,  repeatedly  in  editorials  (and  "Harpers 
Weekly,"  with  letterpress  and  a  cartoon)  quoted  this  in 
the  face  of  its  obvious  inconsistency  with  George's  known 
principles  and  direct  denials.     Mrs.   Lowell,   Francis  G. 

iMr.  Post  says  :  "  'The  Leader'  was  the  ouly  newspaper  support  that 
the  George  party  had  after  the  campaign  opened,  except  the  '  Volks 
Zeitung, '  the  socialist  paper,  printed  in  German.  At  first  the  '  Volks 
Zeitung '  opened  its  editorial  columns  to  articles  in  support  of  George  in 
English,  and  I  did  the  work.  But  early  in  the  campaign  '  fhe  Leader'  was 
started.  It  jumped  at  once  to  a  circulation  of  35,000  daily,  and  was  self- 
supporting  from  the  beginning.  But  to  make  it  self-supporting  all  the 
editorial  and  reportorial  work  had  to  be  contributed  Avithout  pay.  And 
this  was  done.  Though  the  other  newspapers  unanimously  opposed 
George,  their  sub-editors  and  reporters  almost  unanimously  supported 
him.  As  they  could  do  nothing  for  him  in  their  own  papers,  they  vol- 
unteered in  large  numbers  for  work  upon  '  The  Leader. '  After  doing  a  full 
day's  work  on  their  respective  papers,  they  would  turn  in  and  do  an- 
other day's  work,  in  the  same  twenty-four  hours,  for  us.  And  this  they 
continued  to  the  last.  Where  all  were  so  devoted  it  would  be  invidious 
to  mention  names,  even  if  I  could  remember  them.  But  the  managing 
editor's  and  the  city  editor's  chairs  were  filled  in  this  way  ;  and  as  fine  a 
body  of  reporters  as  ever  came  together  on  any  paper  joined  with  the  rest 
of  us  in  working  for  '  The  Leader '  without  pay  throughout  the  campaign. 
I'Mitorial  writers  on  other  papers  also  contributed  to  thisunpaid  work  by 
sending  in  editorials  and  special  articles." 


Age,  47]  AN  AGGRESSIVE  CAMPAIGN  475 

Shaw's  daughter,  wrote  in  some  alarm  to  Mr.  George 
about  the  reported  utterances,  and  he  replied :  "I  not  only 
never  meant  to  encourage  lawlessness  or  disorder,  but 
never  did,  by  direction  or  indirection.  On  the  contrary, 
I  have  told  my  people  in  the  most  emphatic  way  that  I 
would  preserve  order  and  enforce  the  law." 

But  George  did  not  have  much  time  for  explanations 
of  this  kind.  His  campaign  was  not  defensive,  but  offen- 
sive; not  one  of  excuses,  but  of  aggression.  He  addressed 
an  open  letter  to  the  Democratic  candidate  pointing  out 
that  Hewitt  himself  represented  the  dangerous  and  un- 
scrupulous classes,  as  personified  by  Richard  Croker  and 
the  many  other  professional  politicians  about  him ;  whereas 
he  (George)  represented  the  great  working  mass  of  the 
community — the  workers  with  head  as  well  as  with  hand; 
and  that  as  an  English  statesman  had  happily  phrased  it, 
the  working  men's  movement  was  one  of  "the  masses 
against  the  classes."  Finally  he  proposed  that  Hewitt 
and  he  discuss  the  various  questions  of  the  campaign  in 
joint  debate. 

Hewitt's  reply  was  quite  as  spirited.  He  ascribed 
George's  candidacy  to  his  "peculiar  views  as  to  the  nature 
of  property";  and  asserted  again  that  he  was  supported 
by  "all  the  anarchists,  nihilists,  communists  and  social- 
ists in  the  community,"  with  whom  he  (Hewitt)  did 
"not  wish  to  confound  the  men  -  supporting  him  whom" 
George  had  "stigmatised  as  politicians."  He  also  re- 
gretted that  he  could  not  "accommodate  in  debate  a  gen- 
tleman for  whose  'remarkable  acuteness,  fertility  and  lit- 
erary power'  [he  had  the]  highest  respect." 

Two  other  open  letters  passed  between  the  candidates, 
one  from  George,  in  which  he  offered  Hewitt  half  his 
time  at  a  meeting  to  take  place  that  week  at  Chickering 
Hall;  and  one  from  Hewitt  declining  the  proffer  and  de- 


476  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886 

daring  it  George's  purpose  "to  array  working  men  against 
millionaires."^ 

This  was  the  kernel  of  opposition  from  press  and  plat- 
form to  George.  He  was  denounced  as  a  "marauder,"  an 
"assailant  of  other  people's  rights,"  a  "leveller,"  a  "rob- 
ber of  the  poor,"  a  "revolutionist,"  an  "apostle  of  an- 
archy and  destruction,"  a  "man  who  attacks  the  sacred 
foundations  of  property,"  and  a  "recreant  to  liberty" — 
so  that  that  came  to  pass  which  Mr.  George  predicted  in 
his  speech  of  acceptance,  when  he  said :  "This,  in  my  opin- 
ion, will  be  one  of  the  fiercest  contests  that  ever  took 
place  in  this  or  any  other  American  city.  Every  influ- 
ence that  can  be  arrayed  against  me  will  be  used.  There 
will  be  falsehoods  and  slanders,  everything  that  money 
and  energy  and  political  knowledge  can  command." 

One  instance  of  this  was  given  when  a  story  was  pub- 
lished that  Dr.  McGlynn  had  withdrawn  his  support  from 
George.  At  the  risk  of  further  displeasure  to  his  eccle- 
siastical superiors,  the  Doctor  gave  out  a  statement  to 
the  newspapers  in  which  he  said  that  his  "admiration 
and  affection  for  Henry  George's  genius  and  character" 
were,  "if  possible,  increasing  every  day."  Though  it  was 
not  yet  known.  Dr.  McGlynn  had  been  "disciplined"  for 
disobeying  his  Archbishop's  order,  which  was  literally, 
not  to  speak  at  the  Chickering  Hall  meeting,  but  which 
was  really,  as  subsequent  events  proved,  not  to  help 
George.  But  now  towards  the  close  of  the  contest, 
when  the  last  supreme  efforts  were  being  made,  and 
when  McGlynn's  great  influence  was  strongly  felt,  the 
higher  resident  dignitaries  in  the  Church  did  not  hesitate 

1  For  the  full  text  of  this  correspondence  and  a  sketch  of  the  contest, 
see  a  small  compilation  by  Louis  F.  Post  and  Fred  C.  Leubuscher,  en- 
titled "The  George-Hewitt  Campaign,"  formerly  published  by  John  W. 
Lovell  Company,  New  York. 


Age,  47]  POLITICS  FKOM  THE  ALTAR  477 

themselves  to  enter  the  conflict.  For,  in  answer  to  a 
letter  from  one  of  Mr.  Hewitt's  chief  managers,  Kt.  Kev. 
Monsignor  Preston,  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese,  made 
a  formal,  written  reply  condemning  George's  principles 
as  "unsound,  unsafe  and  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Church,"  and  averring  that  if  "logically  carried  out," 
they  "would  prove  the  ruin  of  the  working  men  he  pro- 
fesses to  befriend";  adding  that  "although  we  never  in- 
terfere directly  in  elections,  we  would  not  wish  now  to  be 
misunderstood  at  a  time  when  the  best  interests  of  so- 
ciety may  be  in  danger."  This  letter  was  promptly  given 
to  the  press  and  distributed  at  the  Church  doors  the  Sun- 
day preceding  election  day,  and  it  strengthened  the  de- 
nunciation launched  in  sermons  from  several  Catholic 
altars  against  Henry  George  and  what  he  was  declared 
to  represent. 

A  single  furtive  attempt  was  made  on  George's  per- 
sonal character.  A  story  was  published  in  some  San 
Francisco  papers,  and  telegraphed  to  some  New  York 
papers,  that  he  was  once  connected  with  a  piratical  expe- 
dition. This  referred  to  the  Brontes  Mexican  Eevolution 
enterprise,  with  the  details  of  which  the  reader  has  al- 
ready been  made  acquainted.^  The  tale  of  piracy  was 
seen  to  be  ridiculous  and  was  quickly  dropped.  As  by 
common  accord,  George's  enemies  spoke  of  him  as  of  pure 
private  life  and  unquestionable  abilities — an  honest  and 
dangerous  fanatic. 

Yet  the  cries  of  threatened  machine  politicians  and 
corruptionists  and  an  opposing  press  frightened  into  co- 
operation the  timid  rich  and  a  large  commercial  class, 
who  always  fear  changes,  even  though  they  be  the  sweep- 
ing away  of  long-standing  abuses;  so  that  Henry  George 

1  Pages  165-67. 


478  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [188G 

had  a  tremendous  combination  of  forces,  good  and  bad, 
respectable  and  disreputable,  arrayed  against  him.  But 
if  such  powers  opposed,  he  had  the  intense,  burning  en- 
thusiasm of  the  great  working  masses  behind  him — "a 
power,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "stronger  than  money,  more 
potent  than  trained  politicians";  something  to  meet  and 
"throw  them  aside  like  chaff  before  a  gale." 

Louis  Prang,  the  Boston  art  publisher,  who  feared  for 
George's  dignity  as  an  author  and  teacher  of  a  great  idea 
if  he  should  enter  upon  a  speaking  campaign,  urged  him 
to  follow  General  Grant's  custom  and  make  no  speeches. 
But  George  replied:  "I  appreciate  all  you  say.  Never- 
theless, I  have  been  called  into  this  fight,  and  I  propose  to 
go  through  with  it.  While  it  was  perfectly  proper  for 
Grant  to  make  no  campaign  speeches,  that  is  the  very 
thing  I  must  do ;  and  I  look  forward  to  a  month  of  speak- 
ing every  night." 

And  never  before  in  New  York,  and  perhaps  nowhere 
else  in  the  country,  had  there  been  such  a  speaking  cam- 
paign. In  halls  and  from  "cart-tails,"  at  the  noon  din- 
ner hour  or  at  midnight,  before  exclusive  audiences  and 
before  street  throngs,  in  the  commercial  centres  and 
through  the  tenement  regions,  Henry  George  spoke. 
Eather  than  a  seeker  for  office,  he  was  a  man  with  a 
mission,  preaching  the  way  to  cast  out  involuntary  pov- 
erty from  civilisation.  Rather  than  a  politician  ready 
to  pare  away  and  compromise,  he  pressed  straight  for 
equality  and  freedom,  and  in  a  breath-taking  way  struck 
at  the  ignorant  prejudices  of  his  own  followers  as  sharply 
as  at  those  of  his  fiercest  antagonists.  While  it  was,  for 
instance,  the  rule  to  temporise  on  the  tariff  and  liquor 
questions,  George  called  for  the  abolition  of  custom  houses 
and  of  excise  and  licenses.  He  made  speeches,  frequently 
as  many  as  twelve  or  fourteen  a  day,  of  a  variety,  strength. 


Age,  47]  A  NEW  KIND  OF  POLITICS  479 

clearness,  fire  and  human  sympathy  that  amazed  and 
thrilled  the  multitudes  that  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  that 
inspired  with  increasing  energy  the  scores  and  hundreds 
of  all  walks  of  life  who  sprang  up  to  talk  for  him  and 
his  cause.  Among  these  were  Patrick  Ford,  who,  though 
he  did  not  actually  speak,  sat  upon  the  Cooper  Union 
platform  and  gave  the  strong  editorial  backing  of  the 
"Irish  World";  General  Master  Workman  Powderly  of 
the  Knights  of  Labour;  Samuel  Gompers,  President  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labour;  and  Eev.  J.  0.  S. 
Huntington,  son  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of 
Central  New  York,  and  head  of  the  Episcopal  Order 
of  the  Holy  Cross.  There  had  been  many  municipal  elec- 
tions in  New  York  before,  but  none  like  this.  They  had 
been  purely  political;  this  involved  social  questions  as 
well.  The  sure  sign  of  internal  interest  was  the  registra- 
tion of  voters,  preparatory  to  the  formal  balloting.  This 
year,  with  no  accompanying  State  or  national  contests  to 
augment  it,  the  registration  was  extremely  heavy. 

Outside,  the  press  of  the  country  noted,  discussed  and 
divided,  as  though  they  were  active  participants;  while 
beyond  the  broad  seas,  men  at  the  antipodes  watched  and 
waited,  and  the  British  public,  in  placid  ignorance  of 
most  things  American,  was  by  cable  reports  in  its  news- 
papers daily  informed  of  each  important  event  in  this 
New  York  mayoralty  struggle,  as  though  it  involved  the 
advancement  or  downfall  of  a  sovereign  State.  The  truth 
— the  vital  spark — the  expression  of  hope  of  a  less  bitter 
struggle  for  subsistence  for  all  men,  even  the  meanest 
and  lowest,  that  had  raised  the  California  writer  from 
obscurity,  that  had  given  his  book  on  political  economy 
a  world-wide  circulation,  that  had  gathered  throngs  to 
hear  him  speak  from  one  end  of  Great  Britain  to  the 
other,  was  now  infused  into  a  city  election  and  centred 


480  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886 

the  gaze  of  millions — made  the  world  its  audience.  Let- 
ters of  God-speed  poured  in  upon  the  candidate  from  a 
thousand  sources — from  organisations  whose  hearts  beat 
responsive  to  his  trumpet  call;  from  isolated  individuals 
he  never  saw  and  never  could  expect  to  see.  "The  great 
question" — he  dashed  off  in  a  note  of  cheer  to  Mr.  Gut- 
schow,  German  translator  of  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  who 
had  sent  money  out  of  his  small  purse  for  the  campaign — 
"The  great  question  is  at  last  in  politics  and  the  struggle 
has  begun." 

The  campaign  closed  with  the  Eepublicans  deprecating 
both  Hewitt  and  George,  and  the  Democrats  crying  that 
a  vote  for  Eoosevelt  was  a  vote  for  George,  while  the 
policy  of  those  who  feared  the  rise  of  the  labour  power 
was  "anything  to  beat  George."  The  last  and  most  sig- 
nal proof  to  them  that  their  fears  were  well  founded  was 
a  parade  of  labour  unions  on  the  Saturday  night  three 
days  before  election.  Through  a  cold,  drenching  rain, 
without  brass  bands,  uniforms  or  any  of  the  usual  polit- 
ical trappings,  bearing  aloft  their  trade-union  banners, 
and  with  here  and  there  a  few  torches,  but  mostly  in 
darkness,  the  long,  dense  line  of  men,  headed  by  William 
McCabe,  a  journeyman  printer,  were  two  hours  in  march- 
ing past  the  reviewing  platform  in  Union  Square,  and 
made  one  continuous,  fervid  shout  of  salutation  to  the 
man,  their  candidate,  standing  there. 

So  the  campaign  closed,  and  election  day  came.  Then 
was  seen  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  working  men's 
party.  It  had  no  representatives  in  the  polling  places  to 
count  the  votes.  Moreover,  under  the  election  law  it  had 
to  print  its  own  ballots  and  distribute  them  to  voters,  and 
some  of  the  election  districts  were  actually  without  distrib- 
utors and  ballots.  The  law  worked  for  the  benefit  of  the 
party  "machines."     Yet  men  without  pay  and  without 


Age,  47]  A  BUNKER  HILL  VICTORY  481 

food  stood  from  dawn  till  nightfall  working  for  George. 
Late  in  the  evening  the  returns  showed  that  Abram  S. 
Hewitt  had  been  elected  Mayor,  with  George  second,  and 
Eoosevelt  third;  the  official  canvass  subsequently  showing 
for  Hewitt,  90,553;  for  George,  68,110;  and  for  Eoose- 
velt, 60,435.  Mr.  George  believed  at  the  time,  and  many 
circumstances  afterwards  confirmed  his  belief,  that  he 
had  really  been  elected,  but  had  been  "counted  out." 

But  he  had  got  all  that  he  really  wanted — a  big  vote. 
At  twelve  o'clock  election  night,  when  the  event  was  no 
further  in  doubt,  he  made  a  speech  at  the  working  men's 
headquarters  on  Eighth  Street,  crowded  with  the  more 
active  among  his  supporters.  Disappointment  was  writ- 
ten on  most  faces  there.  They  had  fought  with  the  con- 
fidence of  winning.  Defeat  was  bitter.  But  George's 
voice  rang  out  bell-like  and  clear: 

"I  congratulate  you  to-night  upon  the  victory  we  have 
won.  The  future  is  ours.  This  is  the  Bunker  Hill. 
We  have  been  driven  back  as  the  continental  troops  were 
from  Bunker  Hill.  If  they  won  no  technical  victory, 
they  did  win  a  victory  that  echoed  round  the  world  and 
still  rings.  They  won  a  victory  that  made  this  Eepublic 
a  reality ;  and  thank  God,  men  of  jSTew  York,  we  in  this 
fight  have  won  a  victory  that  makes  the  true  Eepublic 
of  the  future  certain.  We  have  lit  a  fire  that  will  never 
go  out.  We  have  begun  a  movement  that,  defeated,  and 
defeated,  and  defeated,  must  still  go  on.  All  the  great 
currents  of  our  time,  all  the  aspirations  of  the  heart  of 
man,  all  the  new  forces  of  our  civilisation  are  with  us 
and  for  us.  They  never  fail  who  die  in  a  good  cause. 
This  has  been  but  a  skirmish  that  prepares  our  forces 
for  the  battles  that  are  to  follow." 


These  words   of  courage  thrilled  all   who  heard  and 
called  out  round  after  round  of  cheers. 


CHAPTEE   IX. 

"THE    STAND AED"    AND    THE    ANTI- 
POVEETY    SOCIETY. 

1886-1887.  Age,  47-48. 

AFTEE  an  undisturbed  night's  sleep,  Henry  George  on 
JljL  the  morning  following  the  mayoralty  election  was 
back  at  his  Astor  Place  office.  To  a  "Sun"  reporter  who 
came  to  ask  him  of  his  plans,  he  said :  "I  shall  buy  a  bottle 
of  ink  and  a  box  of  pens  and  again  go  to  writing." 

The  press,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  recognised  in  him 
a  new  power  in  the  public  world.  The  London  papers 
were  thoroughly  alive  to  this,  the  Tory  "St.  James's  Ga- 
zette" observing  that  "the  election  should  cause  all  re- 
spectable Americans  to  forget  the  trumpery  of  party 
fights  and  political  ditferentism  and  face  the  new  danger 
threatening  the  commonwealth."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Eadical  "Pall  Mall  Budget"  said : 

"The  two  words  'Henry  George'  on  the  voting  paper 
against  which  68,000  persons  put  their  mark  did  not 
even  to  these  68,000  mean  only  the  five  feet,  nine  inches 
of  commonplace  flesh  and  blood,  thatched  with  sandy 
hair  and  shod  with  American  leather.  They  meant 
much  more  than  that.  They  meant  an  embodied  pro- 
test against  the  kingdom  of  this  world,  which  after 
nineteen  centuries,  alike  under  democracies  and  monar- 
cies  and  empires,  is  still  ruled  by  Mammon  'the  least 

482 


Age,  47-48]  THE  FIRST   SKIRMISH  483 

erected  spirit  that  fell  from  heaven.'  He  stood  as  the 
incarnation  of  a  demand  that  the  world  should  be  made 
a  better  place  to  live  in  than  it  is  to-day ;  and  his  candi- 
dature was  a  groan  of  discontent  with  the  actual,  and 
therefore  of  aspiration  after  the  ideal." 

The  "New  York  Times"  expressed  the  views  of  many 
thoughtful  persons  at  home  in  saying :  "That  a  new  party 
should  suddenly  have  been  called  into  existence  in  this 
city,  and  without  an  existing  organisation,  without  a 
party  fund,  and  under  the  leadership  of  men  inexperi- 
enced in  political  work,  should  have  given  its  candidate  a 
vote  nearly  equalling  that  cast  in  recent  years  by  any  of 
the  existing  political  parties  is  at  once  seen  to  be  an 
event  demanding  the  most  serious  attention  and  study." 

And  well  might  the  press  so  speak.  For  letters  of  con- 
gratulation poured  in  upon  Mr.  George  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  and  in  many  places  he  was  talked  of  as 
labour  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1888.  Moreover, 
four  days  after  the  election  a  crowded  meeting  for  rejoic- 
ing was  held  in  the  large  hall  of  Cooper  Union.  Mr. 
George's  speech  was  fine  in  tone.  "It  is  not  the  end  of 
the  campaign,"  said  he;  "it  is  the  beginning.  We  have 
fought  the  first  skirmish.'^  They  must  go  on,  press- 
ing forward  the  land  question  and  the  kindred  ideas. 

And  he  now  demanded  a  radical  reform  of  those  voting 
laws  which,  as  he  believed  was  instanced  in  the  recent 
contest,  enabled  the  unscrupulous  to  manipulate  elections. 
He  demanded  the  Australian  ballot  system.  He  had  ad- 
vocated this  reform  in  magazine  articles  in  1871  and 
1883;  he  had  inserted  it,  though  not  in  express  terms,  in 
the  platform  he  had  written  and  stood  on  in  the  may- 
oralty fight.  But  at  this  Cooper  Union  congratulation 
meeting  on  jSTovember  6,  1886,  began  the  agitation  of 
the  idea  for  the  first  time  seriously  in  American  politics. 


484  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [188&-1887 

It  was  taken  up  by  the  trade  unions  and  labour  move- 
ments in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  acquiring  sup- 
port from  other  sources,  was,  in  one  form  or  another, 
within  a  few  years  adopted  by  most  of  the  States  in  the 
Union,  and  ultimately  by  all. 

With  a  view  to  carrying  the  land  reform,  ballot  reform 
and  lesser  principles  into  practical  effect,  resolutions  were 
passed  at  the  Cooper  Union  meeting  declaring  that  a  per- 
manent political  organisation  be  effected  in  New  York 
and  elsewhere.  It  was  also  resolved  to  carry  on  syste- 
matic educational  work  through  the  medium  of  lectures 
and  speeches  and  reading  matter.  A  committee  to  direct 
this  consisting  of  John  McMackin,  Eev.  Dr.  McGlynn  and 
Prof.  David  B.  Scott  was  named.  The  latter,  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health,  soon  gave  place  to  James  Redpath, 
managing  editor  of  the  "JSTorth  American  Review."  This 
committee  opened  an  office  in  the  Cooper  Union  building, 
and  with  Gaybert  Barnes  as  secretary,  at  once  com- 
menced the  organisation  through  the  country,  and  espe- 
cially through  New  York  State,  of  "Land  and  Labour 
Clubs." 

But  more  important  than  this,  at  least  to  Mr.  George 
personall}^,  was  the  announcement  of  his  intention  to 
start  a  weekly  newspaper — the  first  number  to  be  issued 
on  January  8  of  the  new  year.  A  prospectus  he  sent  out 
brought  in  many  yearly  subscriptions,  with  money  in  ad- 
vance; and  with  this  money  and  $500  borrowed  from  a 
deeply  interested  English  friend,  Thomas  Briggs  of  Lon- 
don, the  paper  was  started,  the  printing  being  done  on 
the  presses  of  the  "New  York  Herald,"  by  courtesy  of 
James  Gordon  Bennett.  Mr.  George  had  thought  of  nam- 
ing his  paper  "Light,"  but  on  the  suggestion  of  John 
Russell  Young,  he  adopted  the  title  of  "The  Standard." 

The  paper  started  with  high  expectations  and  a  large 


Age,  47^8]  "THE  STANDARD"   STAFF  485 

salaried  staff.  Besides  Mr.  George  as  editor  and  pro- 
prietor, there  were  Wm.  T.  Croasdale,  a  trained  news- 
paper man,  as  managing  editor ;  Louis  F.  Post  as  editorial 
and  special  writer,  Kev.  John  W.  Kramer  as  special 
writer,  J.  W.  Sullivan  as  labour  editor  and  special  writer, 
W.  B.  Scott  as  stenographer  to  Mr.  George  and  exchange 
editor,  Henry  George,  Jr.,  as  correspondence  editor;  T.  L. 
McCready,  John  V.  George  and  Eichard  F.  George  in  the 
business  department,  and  William  McCabe  as  foreman  of 
the  composing  room — eleven  men  in  all,  besides  the  type- 
setters. 

Mr.  George  said  in  his  salutatory  that  he  established  the 
paper  with  the  hope  of  aiding  in  the  work  of  abolishing 
"industrial  slavery."  "Confident  in  the  strength  of 
truth,"  he  said,  "I  shall  give  no  quarter  to  abuses  and 
ask  none  of  their  champions.  ...  I  shall  endeavour 
to  conduct  this  paper  by  the  same  rules  on  which  a  just 
man  would  regulate  his  conduct.  ...  I  hope  to  make 
this  paper  the  worthy  exponent  and  advocate  of  a  great 
party  yet  unnamed  that  is  now  beginning  to  form,  but 
at  the  same  time  to  make  its  contents  so  varied  and  inter- 
esting as  to  insure  for  it  a  general  circulation." 

The  first  issues  of  the  paper  contained  many  well  writ- 
ten articles  on  political  and  economic  matters — in  fact 
were  "varied  and  interesting."  But  everything  was 
thrown  into  eclipse  by  signed  articles  from  Mr.  George's 
pen  on  "The  McGlynn  Case,"  which  was  now  attracting 
international  attention. 

As  has  been  said  in  the  previous  chapter,  Dr.  McGlynn 
was  suspended  from  his  priestly  office  for  two  weeks  dur- 
ing the  mayoralty  campaign  for  refusing  to  absent  him- 
self from  the  George  meeting  in  Chickering  Hall,  while 
the  Vicar-General  of  the  diocese  a  few  days  before  elec- 
tion wrote  a  letter  that  was  published  in  the  newspapers 


486  LIFE   OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

condemning  Mr.  George's  principles  as  "unsound,  unsafe 
and  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Church."  A  fortnight 
or  more  following  the  election  the  Archbishop,  in  a  pastoral 
letter  that  was  read  in  all  the  Catholic  churches  in  New 
York,  attacked  "certain  unsound  j^rinciples  and  theories 
which  assailed  the  rights  of  property."  Though  not  naming 
Henry  George,  it  was  clear  that  the  principles  were  those 
with  which  he  was  identified.  A  few  days  later  an  inter- 
view with  Dr.  McGlynn  appeared  in  the  "ISTew  York 
Tribune"  avowing  the  very  principles  that  the  Archbishop 
had  condemned,  and  taking  direct  issue  in  asserting  that 
they  were  not  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
For  this  the  Archbishop  suspended  Dr.  McGlynn  for  the 
remainder  of  the  year  and  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Cardinal 
Prefect  of  the  Propaganda  laying  the  matter  before  him.^ 
This  letter  procured  a  cable  ordering  Dr.  McGlynn  to 
Eome.  When  the  Archbishop  by  letter  informed  liim  of 
this,  Dr.  McGlynn  by  letter  replied  that  several  grave 
reasons,  among  them  his  physician's  orders  (he  had  heart 
trouble,  which,  with  other  complications,  ultimately 
caused  his  death)  would  prevent  his  undertaking  the  jour- 
ne}'.     But  he  added: 

"As  I  cannot  go  to  Home  to  give  an  account  of  my 
doctrine  about  land,  I  would  say  that  I  have  made  it 
clear  in  speeches,  in  reported  interviews  and  in  published 
articles,  and  I  repeat  it  here:  I  have  taught  and  shall 
continue  to  teach  in  speeches  and  writings  as  long  as  I 
live,  that  land  is  rightfully  the  property  of  the  people  in 
common  and  that  private  ownership  of  land  is  against 
natural  justice,  no  matter  by  what  civil  or  ecclesiastical 
laws  it  may  be  sanctioned;  and  I  would  bring  about 
instantly,  if  I  could,  such  change  of  laws  all  the  world 

1  Statement  of  Rt.  Rev.  M.  A.  Corrigan,  "The  Standard," 
January  29,  1887. 


Age,47-t8]  McGLYNN'S  LAND  DOCTRINE  487 

over  as  would  confiscate  private  property  in  land,  with- 
out one  penn}^  of  compensation  to  the  miscalled  owners."^ 


The  Archbishop  responded  to  this  declaration  by  ex- 
tending Dr.  McGlynn's  suspension  until  such  time  as 
Cardinal  Simeoni  or  the  Pope  should  act. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  George  had  early  in  December  (1886) 
addressed  an  open  letter  to  the  Archbishop  answering 
that  part  of  the  pastoral  "taken  by  the  press  as  placing 
the  Catholic  Church  in  the  attitude  of  a  champion  of 
private  property  in  land."  The  article  did  not  pass  be- 
yond a  quiet  discussion  of  economic  principles.  But 
when  Archbishop  Corrigan  procured  the  order  for  Dr. 
McGlynn  to  go  to  Kome,  Mr.  George  came  out  in  a  blaz- 
ing article  in  the  first  issue  of  "The  Standard."  He 
presented  the  importance  of  the  subject  in  this  style: 

"The  case  of  Dr.  McGlynn  brings  up  in  definite  form 
the  most  important  issues  which  have  ever  been  presented 
in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States.  It  has  in  fact  an  interest  far  transcending  this 
country,  in  so  much  as  the  question  which  it  involves 
is  the  attitude  of  the  greatest  of  Christian  Churches 
towards  the  world-wide  social  movement  of  our  times, 
and  its  decision  will  be  fraught  with  the  most  important 
consequences  both  to  the  development  of  that  movement 
and  to  the  Church  itself." 

He  reached  the  heart  of  the  matter  when  he  said: 

"What  Dr.  McGlynn  is  punished  for  is  for  taking 
the  side  of  the  working  men  against  the  system  of  in- 
justice and  spoliation  and  the  rotten  rings  which  have 
made  the  government  in  New  York  a  by-word  of  corrup- 
tion.    In  the  last  Presidential  election  Dr.   McGlynn 

iDr.  McGlyiiu's  review  of  his  case,  "The  Standard,"  Februarj'  5,  1887. 


488  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

made  some  vigorous  speeches  in  behalf  of  the  Democratic 
candidate  without  a  word  or  thought  of  remonstrance. 
His  sin  is  in  taking  a  side  in  politics  which  was  opposed 
to  the  rings  that  had  the  support  of  the  Catholic  hier- 
archy," 

Some  of  Dr.  McGlyhn's  friends,  said  George,  advised 
the  clergyman's  obeying  the  summons  to  Eome,  "in  order 
to  present  the  case  of  those  Catholics  who  believe  in  the 
common  right  to  land,  and  to  force  the  question  to  an 
issue,  which  would  forever  still  any  pretence  that  this  doc- 
trine was  condemned  by  the  Church."^  To  this  Mr. 
George  replied: 

"This  might  be  all  very  well  if  Dr.  McGlynn  could  go 
to  Kome  after  some  such  unequivocal  popular  express- 
ion as  would  convince  the  Eoman  authorities  that  he 
was  the  ambassador  of  American  Catholics,  and  that 
they  did  not  propose  to  be  trifled  with.  But  for  him  to 
go  to  Kome  as  a  suspended  priest  Avith  any  expectation 
of  getting  a  hearing  as  against  an  Archbishop,  backed  by 
all  the  influence  of  the  rich  Catholics  of  the  United 
States,  and  by  all  the  powerful  influence  of  the  English 
Colony  and  English  intriguers  at  Eome,  would  be  folly. 
Dr.  McGlynn  would  have  no  chance  in  Eome  to  make 
any  presentation  of  the  case,  even  if  the  Propaganda 
were  a  perfectly  impartial  tribunal.  ...  Is  it 
likely  that  they  would  give  any  hearing  now  to  the  'priest 
McGlynn,'  whom  they  condemned  four  years  ago  because 
of  his  partiality  to  the  'Irish  revolution'  ?" 

Mr.  George  quoted  Vicar-General  Preston  to  the  effect 
that  Dr.  McGlynn  was  "not  sent  for  to  be  complimented," 

1  This  was  Mr.  George's  own  view  at  first,  but  he  yielded  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Dr.  McGlynn,  who,  from  what  he  had  seen  in  Rome  while  at  the 
College  of  the  Propaganda,  believed  he  would  be  unable  to  get  a  hearing 
at  the  Vatican. 


Age,  47-48]  OEDERED  TO  RECANT  489 

but  "to  be  disciplined."  Proof,  if  any  was  needed,  that 
the  plan  was  to  have  the  case  prejudged  came  a  little 
later  when  the  Archbishop  published,  as  coming  from 
Cardinal  Simeoni,  a  cable  message  directing  him  to  "give 
orders  to  have  Dr.  McGlynn  again  invited  to  proceed  to 
Home  and  also  to  condemn  in  writing  the  doctrines  to 
which  he  has  given  utterance  in  public  meetings  or  which 
have  been  attributed  to  him  in  the  press." 

The  first  isSue  of  "The  Standard,"  or  more  particularly 
Mr.  George's  article,  made  a  sensation,  and  two  extra 
editions  of  the  paper,  or  in  all  seventy-five  thousand 
copies,  were  struck  off.  But  "The  Standard"  was  prac- 
tically alone  in  the  fight  for  Dr.  McGlynn.  Even  papers 
with  a  strong  Protestant  bias  and  generally  ready  to 
seize  upon  any  circumstances  disadvantageous  to  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  now,  because  of  the  social  and  political  up- 
heaval threatened  by  George  and  McGlynn,  were  glad  to 
side  with  an  Archbishop  who  used  tyrannical  power 
against  a  liberal  and  public-spirited  priest  and  with  a 
foreign  power  that  dared  to  interfere  with  and  curtail 
the  rights  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  And  the 
newspapers  approved  of  the  Archbishop's  action  when,  in 
the  middle  of  January,  he  removed  Dr.  McGlynn  from 
the  pastorate  of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  Nor  did  they 
make  any  derogatory  comments  at  the  unseemly  manner 
in  which  the  order  was  executed,  Eev.  Arthur  Donnally, 
until  then  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  the  appointee,  going 
to  St.  Stephen's  rectory,  without  notice  of  any  kind,  and 
in  the  absence  of  Dr.  McGlynn,  walking  into  the  latter's 
private  room  and  attempting  to  take  instant  possession, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  clothes,  books  and  papers 
scattered  about  gave  evidence  that  the  man  who  had  occu- 
pied the  chamber  for  twenty  years  was  yet  its  occupant 
and  would  need  a  brief  time  to  remove  his  effects.     Fa- 


490  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

ther  Donnally  afterwards  went  into  the  Church  proper 
and  tore  Dr.  McGlynn's  name  from  the  confessional,  and 
later  still,  attended  by  a  police  captain,  ruthlessly  broke 
in  upon  the  solemn  duties  of  confession,  and  in  a  loud 
voice  ordered  two  of  the  assistant  priests,  and  the  people 
who  had  come  to  devotions,  out  of  the  place ;  and  this  and 
much  more  against  the  all  but  violent  protestations  of  a 
great  congregation  by  whom  for  a  generation  Dr.  Mc- 
Glynn  had  been  deeply  loved  and  venerated. 

A  chorus  went  up  from  the  press  that  Henry  George  in 
"attacking  the  Catholic  Church"  had  destroyed  his  political 
future  and  hope  of  "The  Standard's"  success.  He  replied 
that  he  did  not  attack  "the  Church,"  but  the  men  who  mis- 
used the  Church;  that  he  had  no  political  aspirations,  else 
he  would  not  have  re-entered  journalism;  and  that  if  the 
time  came  when  "The  Standard"  could  not  "freely  and 
frankly  take  a  stand  on  any  question  of  public  interest," 
then  it  would  be  "high  time  for  it  to  give  up  the  ghost." 

The  case  of  Dr.  McGlynn  now  seemed  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  Church  authorities  at  Eome.  Yet  strangely 
enough  at  this  very  time  Cardinal  Gibbons  wrote  from 
Rome  to  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  L.  Burtsell,  of  the  Epiphany 
Church,  Dr.  McGlynn's  lifelong  friend  and  legal  adviser, 
that  in  personal  interviews  with  Cardinal  Simeoni  and 
the  Pope,  both  had  stated  to  him  that  they  had  not  passed 
judgment,  much  less  condemned  Dr.  McGlynn.  Car- 
dinal Gibbons  therefore  urged  Dr.  McGlynn  to  go  to 
Rome.  As  we  have  seen  Dr.  McGlynn  had  reluctance  to 
going  to  Rome  as  he  felt  that  he  would  get  small  chance 
of  a  hearing.  Nevertheless  he  now  sent  word  through 
Dr.  Burtsell  that  he  would  go  as  soon  as  the  weak  state 
of  his  heart  would  permit,  on  condition  that  he  should 
first  be  reinstated  and  that  a  public  statement  be  made 
by  some  one  in  authority  that  no  judgment  had  been 


Age,  47-48]  CROSS  OF  THE  NEW  CRUSADE  491 

passed  upon  the  case  and  that  his  land  doctrines  had  not 
been  condemned  at  Rome.  But  Cardinal  Gibbons  for 
some  reason  or  other  failed  to  place  before  the  Propa- 
ganda or  the  Pope  Dr.  Burtsell's  letter  and  no  effort  at 
reinstatement  or  correction  of  public  utterances  was  made. 

Dr.  McGlynn  had  not  the  least  idea  of  receding  from 
his  position.  He  held  that  there  was  no  conflict  between 
the  doctrine  of  the  land  for  the  people  and  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  Church.  Towards  the  end  of  March 
he  repeated  his  land  doctrines  in  a  most  emphatic  and  elo- 
quent manner  in  a  lecture  in  the  Academy  of  Music  on 
"The  Cross  of  the  New  Crusade,"  before  a  very  large  •/ 
audience,  that  was  composed  chiefly  of  Catholics  and 
largely  of  St.  Stephen's  parishioners;  and  which  marked 
every  period  with  a  burst  of  applause. 

This  led  almost  immediately  to  a  movement  to  awaken 
in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  poor  and  outcast  of  the 
great  city  a  hope  for  a  civilisation  that  should  be  based 
on  social  justice  and  bring  peace  and  plenty  to  all.  The 
idea  had  originated  some  time  before  with  Thomas  L. 
McCready  of  "The  Standard"  staff.  His  plan  was  to 
form  a  militant  society  against  poverty,  and  with  it  to 
go  into  and  rouse  the  New  York  tenement  regions.  It 
was  a  new  scheme  to  educate  the  masses  on  the  land  ques- 
tion. After  Dr.  McGlynn's  lecture  on  "The  Cross  of  the 
New  Crusade,"  the  McCready  idea  took  fire.  The  first 
steps  towards  organisation  were  taken  at  a  little  meeting 
in  "The  Standard"  office,  and  a  name  suggested  by  Mc- 
Cready was  chosen — "The  Anti-Poverty  Society."^ 

1  The  declaration  of  the  Anti- Poverty  Society  consisted  of  a  single  para- 
graph, viz  :  ' '  The  time  having  come  for  an  active  warfare  against  the 
conditions  that,  in  spite  of  the  advance  in  the  powers  of  production,  con- 
demn so  many  to  degrading  poverty,  and  foster  vice,  crime,  and  greed, 
the  Anti-Poverty  Society  has  been  formed.     The  object  of  the  Society  is 


492  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [188&-1887 

By  common  voice  Dr.  McGlynn  was  named  president, 
and  Henry  George,  vice-president;  with  Benjamin  Urner, 
a  commission  merchant,  for  treasurer,  and  Michael  Clark, 
an  editorial  writer  on  the  "Irish  World,"  for  secretary. 

The  first  public  meeting  took  place  in  Chickering  Hall 
on  Sunday  evening.  May  1.  The  hall  was  crowded  and 
thousands  were  turned  away.  Dr.  McGlynn's  address 
was  the  chief  feature  of  the  meeting.  Of  it  Mr.  George 
said  in  his  signed  editorial  in  "The  Standard" : 

"Never  before  in  New  York  had  a  great  audience 
sprung  to  its  feet  and  in  a  tumult  of  enthusiasm  cheered 
the  Lord's  Prayer;  but  it  was  the  Lord's  Prayer  with  a 
meaning  that  the  Churches  have  ignored.  The  simple 
words,  'Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven,'  as  they  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  Christ- 
ian priest  who  proclaims  the  common  fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  common  brotherhood  of  man ;  who  points  to  the 
widespread  poverty  and  suffering  not  as  in  accordance 
with  God's  will,  but  as  in  defiance  of  God's  order,  and  who 
appeals  to  the  love  of  God  and  the  hope  of  heaven,  not 
to  make  men  submissive  of  social  injustice  which  brings 
want  and  misery,  but  to  urge  them  to  the  duty  of  sweep- 
ing away  this  injustice — have  in  them  the  power  with 
which  Christianity  conquered  the  world.  And  in  New 
York  to-day,  as  by  the  sea  of  Galilee  eighteen  centuries 
ago,  though  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  are  filled  with 
rage  and  the  high  priests  and  rich  men  are  troubled  and 
dismayed,  the  people  hear  them  gladly." 

Men  and  women  of  all  religious  denominations  and  of 
no  religion  at  all  came  in  flocks  to  enroll  as  members  of 


to  spread,  by  such  peaceable  and  lawful  means  as  may  be  found  most  de- 
sirable and  efficient,  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  that  God  has  made  ample 
provision  for  the  need  of  all  men  during  their  residence  upon  earth,  and 
that  involuntary  poverty  is  the  result  of  the  human  laws  that  allow  indi- 
viduals to  claim  as  private  property  that  which  the  Creator  has  provided 
for  the  use  of  all." 


Age,  47^8]  ANTI-POVERTY  SOCIETY  493 

the  Anti-Poverty  Society,  and  the  next  meeting  on  the 
following  Sunday  evening  was  in  a  larger  place,  the  Acad- 
emy of  Music,  when  Henry  George  made  the  chief  address. 
The  press  turned  loose  denunciation  and  ridicule,  but  that 
only  served  to  extend  the  membership  and  to  advertise 
the  meetings  which  came  to  be  held  regularly  every  Sun- 
day evening  in  the  Academy. 

The  Archbishop  early  in  May  had  apparently  received 
a  letter  from  Cardinal  Simeoni,  summoning  Dr.  McGlynn 
to  Eome  and  giving  him  forty  days  from  receipt  of  the 
letter  in  which  to  do  so,  under  pain  of  excommunication, 
"to  be  incurred  by  the  act  itself  and  also  by  name,"  if  he 
should  fail. 

Dr.  McGlynn  contented  himself  with  his  former  reply 
that  grave  reasons  would  prevent  his  making  the  journey 
then.  The  conspicuous  signs  in  the  Anti-Poverty  move- 
ment were  that  for  his  personal  character,  his  doctrines 
on  the  land  question  and  his  consequent  attitude  towards 
his  ecclesiastical  superiors.  Dr.  McGlynn  had  a  large  and 
strong  following — indeed,  that  a  large  part  of  his  former 
parishioners  had  joined  the  movement  and  hung  on  every 
word  that  dropped  from  his  lips.  If  these  signs  failed 
there  could  be  no  mistaking  the  size  and  character  of  a 
parade  and  demonstration  held  in  his  honour  and  in  pro- 
test against  the  impending  excommunication.  It  was 
composed  mainly  of  Catholic  working  men.  A  not- 
friendly  newspaper — the  "ISTew  York  Herald" — estimated 
that  seventy-five  thousand  persons  took  part.  But  in  an- 
ticipation of  what  seemed  certain  to  occur,  Henry  George 
wrote  in  "The  Standard"  (June  25)  : 

"There  stands  hard  by  the  palace  of  the  holy  inquis- 
ition in  Eome  a  statue  which  has  been  placed  there  since 
Eome  became  the  capital  of  a  united  Italy.  On  it  is 
this  inscription : 


494  LITE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

GALILEO   GALILEI 

was  imprisoned  in  the  neighbouring  palace 

for  having  seen 

that  the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun. 

"In  after  years  when  the  true-hearted  American  priest 
shall  have  rested  from  his  labours,  and  what  is  now 
being  done  is  history,  there  will  arise  by  the  spot  where 
he  shall  be  excommunicated  such  a  statue  and  such  an 
inscription.  And  days  will  come  when  happy  little  chil- 
dren, such  as  now  die  like  flies  in  tenement  houses,  shall 
be  held  up  by  their  mothers  to  lay  garlands  upon  it." 


The  term  of  forty  days  having  expired  on  July  3,  the 
threatened  penalty  fell.  The  Archbishop  did  not  attempt 
to  make  any  ceremony  of  it.  He  merely  wrote  two  let- 
ters, one  to  Dr.  McGlynn  and  one  to  a  Catholic  news- 
paper addressing  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  diocese,  say- 
ing that  the  Doctor  having  failed  to  comply  with  the 
order  from  Eome  within  the  time  set,  had  thereby  in- 
curred excommunication.  Dr.  McGlynn  had  already  been 
stripped  of  his  church  and  the  right  to  perform  his 
priestly  offices,  so  that  excommunication  so  far  as  the 
outside  world  could  see  went  for  little.  And  the  loving 
regard  of  the  Catholic  poor  of  St.  Stephens  parish  re- 
mained unaltered.  They  continued  to  crowd  into  the 
Anti-Poverty  meetings  and  wherever  else  their  "soggarth 
aroon"  publicly  appeared.  Nor  did  the  excommunication 
in  the  least  change  Dr.  McGlynn's  own  belief  that  he  was 
still  a  Catholic  and  a  priest,  or  lessen  his  sense  of  obligation 
to  be  true  to  the  Catholic  faith.  Not  only  did  he  continue 
strictly  to  follow  in  private  life  that  course  which  had 
made  it  impossible  for  searching  enmity  to  breathe  against 


Age,  47-48]  McGLYNN  EXCOMMUNICATED  495 

his  character  as  a  priest  or  a  man,  but  in  the  addresses 
before  the  Anti-Poverty  Society  and  elsewhere  he  invari- 
ably opened  with  the  reverent  spirit  of  a  devout  minister 
of  the  gospel,  and  at  the  heart  of  every  discourse  was 
religion.  "Once  a  priest,  always  a  priest,"  he  cherished 
in  his  heart  of  hearts  as  among  the  most  precious  of  the 
ancient  sayings. 

Not  content  with  the  excommunication  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Glynn,  Archbishop  Corrigan,  in  the  interpretation  of  gen- 
eral instructions  he  had  received  from  Eome,  based  upon 
his  own  presentation  of  matters  in  New  York,  punished, 
by  transferrence  to  less  important  missions  in  the  diocese, 
a  number  of  priests  who  failed  to  give  outward  sign  of 
condemnation  of  Dr.  McGlynn.  Even  Dr.  Bnrtsell,  emi- 
nent in  the  United  States  as  an  ecclesiastical  jurist,  was 
deprived  of  an  important  office  in  the  diocese  and  even- 
tually of  his  church  in  New  York  City,  being  sent  in  1890 
to  the  little  Church  of  St.  Mary,  at  Eondout,  up  the 
Hudson.  The  Archbishop  in  his  reasons  to  the  Propa- 
ganda for  this  latter  action  said:  "Dr.  Burtsell  has  the 
name  of  being,  and  is  held  by  public  opinion,  as  well  as 
by  the  followers  of  Dr.  McGlynn,  as  by  the  clergy  and 
the  faithful  of  New  York,  to  be  not  only  a  personal  friend 
of  Dr.  McGlynn,  but  also  the  leader  of  those  few  discon- 
tented priests  who  more  or  less  sustain  Dr.  McGlynn,  and 
moreover  the  counsellor,  defender  and  abettor  of  the  lat- 
ter." Nor  did  the  Archbishop  stop  here.  In  two  in- 
stances he  prevented  burial  of  persons  in  the  Catholic 
Calvary  Cemetery,  because,  while  these  persons  were 
known  to  be  strict  in  their  duties  to  the  Church,  they 
attended  the  Anti-Poverty  Society  lectures  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Glynn. 

Meanwhile  Henry  George  had  been  doing  some  lectur- 
ing in  other  cities  on  what  now  began  to  be  called  the 


496  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEOEGE  [1886-1887 

"Single  Tax"  question.^  He  made  an  important  trip. 
Tinder  the  auspices  of  Major  James  B.  Pond's  bureau,  to 
Madison  and  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  Burlington,  la.,  Saginaw, 
Mich.,  and  Chicago.  But  work  on  "The  Standard"  en- 
gaged most  of  his  time  up  to  the  middle  of  summer 
of  1887. 

Discussion  over  the  excommunication  had  not  entirely 
subsided  when  a  new  excitement  commenced — a  political 
contest  for  State  and  municipal  offices.  A  State  con- 
vention called  by  the  United  Labour  Party  of  New  York 
City,  met  in  Syracuse  on  August  17,  with  representatives 
from  political  labour  parties  or  Land  and  Labour  Clubs 
in  all  the  important  centres  in  the  Empire  State.  This 
was  the  direct  outcome  of  the  great  vote  for  Henry 
George's  candidacy  for  mayor  the  year  before.  George 
and  most  of  his  immediate  supporters  were  confident  that 
the  labour  movement  would  draw  out  a  very  large  vote  in 
the  State  this  year,  which  would  permanently  establish 
the  new  party  and  make  it  a  factor  in  the  presidential 
campaign  in  1888. 

But  weeks  before  the  convention  met  it  became  evident 
that  the  socialists,  who  had  supported  George  in  1886 
and  raised  no   objection   to  the  platform  on  which  he 

iThe  term  "Single  Tax"  may  be  said  to  have  been  anticipated  in 
"  Progress  and  Poverty"  (Book  VIII,  chap,  iv  ;  "Memorial  Edition,"  p. 
425),  but  the  commencement  of  its  general  use  probably  dates  from  early 
in  1887  ;  Mr.  George,  in  a  speech  at  a  single  tax  conference  in  Chicago  in 
1893,  saying  that  no  one  had  been  able  to  devise  a  suitable  title  for  the 
cause  until  one  day  Thomas  G.  Shearman  of  New  York  remarked  to  him  : 
"It  seems  to  me  that  the  proper  title  should  be  'The  Single  Tax.'" 
"  And  then,"  said  Mr.  George,  "an  article  was  published  under  that  title 
and  somehow  or  other  the  name  stuck."  The  article  referred  to  was  a 
report  in  "The  Standard"  of  a  speech  by  Mr.  Shearman  (See  "Standard," 
May  28,  1887).  Mr.  George  never  regarded  the  term  as  describing  his 
philosophy,  but  rather  as  indicating  the  method  he  would  take  to  apply  it. 


Age,  47-48]  FIGHT  WITH  SOCIALISTS  497 

stood,  and  which  he  had  himself  written,  were  now  bent 
on  getting  their  principles  to  the  front.  They  consisted 
of  comparatively  few  men  in  New  York  City,  but  what 
they  lacked  in  numbers  they  made  up  in  earnestness  and 
activity.  They  now  undertook  to  steer  the  new  political 
movement.  They  not  only  wished  to  keep  their  social- 
istic organisation  intact  while  they  acted  as  members  in 
the  larger  United  Labour  Party,  but  their  executive  com- 
mittee issued  a  statement  insisting  "that  the  burning 
social  question  is  not  a  land  tax,  but  the  abolition  of  all 
private  property  in  instruments  of  production."  It  was 
the  same  kind  of  opposition  that  George  had  encountered 
from  the  London  socialists  at  the  outset  of  his  1883-84 
lecture  campaign  in  Great  Britain.  He  wrote  in  "The 
Standard"  the  week  before  the  convention  met  that  there 
could  be  no  place  for  the  socialists  in  the  new  party  if 
they  pressed  their  principles.  "Either  they  must  go  out," 
said  he,  "or  the  majority  must  go  out,  for  it  is  certain 
that  the  majority  of  the  men  who  constitute  the  United 
Labour  Party  do  not  propose  to  nationalise  capital  and 
are  not  in  favour  of  the  abolition  of  all  private  property 
in  the  'instruments  of  production.' " 

The  matter  came  to  a  head  in  the  convention,  to  which 
the  socialists  sent  contesting  delegates  from  three  of  the 
ISTew  York  City  districts.  They  were  given  a  hearing,  but 
they  were  refused  seats  because  they  belonged  to  another 
political  party.  During  that  hearing  they  insisted  on  put- 
ting socialism  forward  and  on  the  right  to  be  members 
of  the  Socialistic  Labour  Party  while  active  in  the  United 
Labour  Party  as  well.  They  became  very  bitter  about 
their  exclusion  and  taxed  George  with  throwing  them  over 
from  motives  of  policy.  They  and  their  associates  and 
supporters  put  in  the  field  a  list  of  their  own  candidates 
on  a  purely  socialistic  platform. 


498  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

Thus  Mr.  George  was  compelled  in  public  action  to 
draw  a  line  of  demarcation  which  in  writing  "Protection 
or  Free  Trade?"  in  1885  he  had  been  at  pains  to  make 
very  clear  as  separating  his  own  philosophy  from  that  of 
socialism.^  It  also  happened  that  occasion  arose  for  him 
to  draw  a  line  on  anarchy,  or  rather  on  the  Chicago  an- 
archists sentenced  to  death  for  being  accessory  to  the  kill- 
ing of  several  Chicago  policemen  in  1885.  The  breaking 
up  in  October,  1887,  by  the  police  of  a  public  meeting  in 
New  Jersey  called  to  express  sympathy  with  the  Cliicago 
anarchists  caused  Mr.  George  to  protest  in  "The  Stand- 
ard" in  behalf  of  free  speech,  but  at  the  same  time  to  say 
that  he  believed  after  reading  the  review  of  the  testimony 
which  was  given  in  the  Supreme  Court  decision^  when  the 
cases  were  appealed  that  the  Chicago  anarchists  were 
guilty  under  the  laws  of  Illinois.  However,  he  thought 
mitigating  circumstances  and  the  fact  that  a  "tragical 
death  always  tends  to  condone  mistakes  and  crimes"  would 
plead  the  commutation  of  the  sentence  of  death  to  a 
sentence  of  imprisonment.  He  wrote  this  publicly  in 
"The  Standard,"  and  privately  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Governor  of  Illinois  urging  clemency  on  the  same  grounds. 

But  to  return  to  the  convention.  Henry  George  and 
Dr.  McGlynn,  who  also  was  a  delegate,  were  the  central 
figures.  Henry  George  drafted  the  2:)latform,  in  prin- 
ciple the  same  as  that  he  had  written  for  his  mayoralty 
campaign  the  year  before.  It  soon  became  evident  that 
he  would  be  pressed  to  accept  the  nomination  for  the 

1  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  chap,  xxviii.  (Memorial  Edition, 
pp.  299-312),  "Free  Trade  and  Socialism." 

2  Some  of  Mr.  George's  friends  have  believed  that  had  he  read  the  full 
testimony  of  the  case,  and  not  what  tliey  believed  to  be  the  Supreme 
Courts'  very  unfair  view  of  it,  he  would  have  come  to  a  dififerent  con- 
clusion. 


Age,  47^8]  GEORGE  AGAIN  CANDIDATE  499 

chief  place  on  the  ticket — that  of  Secretary  of  State.  He 
shrank  from  this  because  he  did  not  like  to  appear  as  an 
office  hunter  and  because  he  thought  it  bad  party  policy 
to  run  him  just  then.  But  an  intimation  that  it  might 
be  said  that  he  held  back  and  wished  another  put  forward 
because  he  saw  small  hope  of  election  decided  him  to 
accept.  The  rest  of  the  State  ticket  was  filled  out  with 
men  known  in  the  labour  movements  of  their  respective 
localities,  but  little  known  in  general  politics. 

Mr.  George  early  entered  on  an  active  speaking  cam- 
paign through  the  State  and  was  accompanied  by  corre- 
spondents of  the  "Herald"  and  "World"  of  New  York 
City,  who  gave  fair  reports  of  his  speeches  and  their  ap- 
parent effects.  The  Governor  of  the  State,  David  B.  Hill, 
having  in  a  public  speech  made  some  reference  to  the 
labour  party  candidate  and  his  principles,  Mr.  George  in- 
vited him  to  joint  debate,  but  the  Governor  ignored  the 
challenge.  However,  Sergius  E.  Shevitch,^  an  able  rep- 
resentative of  the  socialists — one  of  the  unseated  Syra- 
cuse convention  delegates — challenged  Mr.  George  to  de- 
bate their  respective  principles.  The  latter  accepted  and 
they  met  in  Miner's  Theatre  on  Eighth  Avenue,  New 
York  City.  Dr.  McGlynn  also  travelled  over  the  State 
making  speeches,  as  did  Louis  F.  Post,  Judge  James  G. 
Maguire  of  California,  Eev.  Hugh  0.  Pentecost  of  New- 
ark, and  many  others.  Moreover,  a  million  tracts,  mostly 
on  the  land  question,  were  distributed.  It  was  a  canvass 
remarkably  widespread  and  effective,  considering  the  lack 
of  money  and  organisation.  Collections  were  made  at 
many  of  the  meetings,  and  small  sums  came  from  indi- 
vidual sources,  but  most  of  the  scant  fund  obtained  for 


1 A  few  years  afterward  Mr.  Shevitch  accepted  a  position  in  Russia  under 
the  Czar's  Government. 


500  LIFE  OP  HENRY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

the  campaign  came  from  a  fair  held  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Anti-Poverty  Society  and  the  superintendence  of 
William  T,  Croasdale  in  Madison  Square  Garden  during 
the  first  three  weeks  in  October. 

All  the  while  opposition  was  not  asleep.  The  poli- 
ticians in  both  the  great  parties  considered  that  this  elec- 
tion involved  the  fate  of  New  York,  a  pivotal  State,  in 
the  national  contest  the  next  year,  and  therefore  were 
bent  on  making  strong  party  showings.  The  hierarchy  of 
the  Catholic  Church  of  New  York  City  of  course  set  the 
seal  of  condemnation  upon  the  new  party  and  ojjenly  and 
secretly  stirred  up  opposition  everywhere.  But  what 
proved  a  great  surprise  to  both  George  and  McGlynn  was 
that  Patrick  Ford  broke  with  them  and  took  the  side  of 
the  Catholic  Church  authorities.  He  set  aside  the  under- 
lying land  question, -upon  which  in  the  past  Heiiry  George 
himself  had  not  taken  more  radical  ground,  nor  given  a 
deeper  foundation  in  ethics.  He  ignored  the  fact  that 
Dr.  McGlynn  had  on  his  invitation  in  1882  made  the  very 
speeches  that  brought  the  first  censures  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical authorities.  He  made  no  distinction  between  the 
officers  or  human  representatives  of  the  Church,  whom 
they  opposed,  and  the  doctrines  or  spiritual  part  of  the 
Church,  which  they  did  not  oppose.  He  professed  a  con- 
tinuance of  personal  friendliness  to  both  men,  but  said  that 
he  must  separate  himself  from  their  public  course  because 
they  were  warring  on  the  Catholic  Church.  He  set  forth 
his  views  in  three  long,  signed,  double-leaded  articles  in 
the  "Irish  World,"  special  editions  of  which  were  distrib- 
uted widely  over  the  State. 

Then,  too,  George's  attitude  towards  the  socialists  and 
the  Chicago  anarchists,  while  losing  what  support  their 
small  numbers  represented,  together  with  the  far  wider 
and  more  important  support  they  were  able  to  influence  for 


Age,  47-48]  THE  CHICAGO  ANAECHISTS  501 

the  time  being  by  charging  him  with  mean  motives/  did 
not  draw  to  him  the  privileged  classes,  who  had  the  year 
before  charged  him  with  preaching  blood  and  revolution. 
But  notwithstanding  opposition  his  courageous,  san- 
guine nature  soared.  He  M^as  filled  with  high  hopes. 
Neither  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Secretary  of  State, 

1  Mr.  George  wrote  after  election  (November  25)  to  C.  D.  F.  Giitschow 
of  San  Francisco,  the  German  translator  of  "Progi'ess  and  Poverty": 
' '  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  notion  that  I  had  turned  on  the 
socialists  as  a  mere  matter  of  policy  was  widely  disseminated  among  our 
German  population  and  did  me  harm,  for  this  was  the  socialists'  per- 
sistent cry  through  their  German  papers,  and  I  had  no  way  of  correcting 
it.  The  truth,  however,  is  just  the  reverse.  Beginning  about  January 
of  this  year,  they  made  the  most  persistent  efforts  to  force  socialistic  doc- 
trines upon  us.  I  did  not  resist,  and  refused  even  to  enter  into  con- 
troversy with  them  until  it  became  absolutely  necessary.  There  was  no 
alternative  other  than  to  consent  to  have  the  movement  ranked  as  a 
socialistic  movement  or  to  split  with  the  socialists.  Although  this  lost 
us  votes  for  the  present,  I  am  perfectly  certain  that  it  will  prove  of  ad- 
vantage in  the  long  run.  Policy,  however,  did  not  enter  into  my  calcu- 
lations ;  I  was  only  anxious  to  do  the  right  thing. 

"Second,  as  to  the  anarchists.  The  article  to  which  you  refer 
[averring  that  the  accused  men  had  not  had  a  fair  trial],  published  in  the 
second  issue  of  the  paper,  was  not  written  by  me,  but  by  a  gentleman  in 
whom  I  have  confidence,  Mr.  Louis  F.  Post.  The  opinion  there  ex- 
pressed was  my  opinion,  simply  because  I  had  received  it  from  him,  until 
I  found  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  had  made  a  unanimous  deci- 
sion. Our  bench  is  not  immaculate,  but  I  could  not  believe  that  every 
one  of  seven  men,  with  the  responsibility  of  life  and  death  hanging  over 
him,  coi;ld  unjustly  condemn  these  men.  In  spite  of  all  pi-essure  I  re- 
fused to  say  anything  about  the  matter  until  I  had  a  chance  to  somewhat 
examine  it  for  myself,  and  a  reading  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
convinced  me,  as  it  did  everyone  else  whom  I  got  to  read  it,  that  the  men 
had  not  been  condemned,  as  I  had  previously  supposed,  for  mere  opinion 
and  general  utterances.  Not  satisfied,  however,  with  this,  I  sought  the 
opinion  of  Judge  Maguire,  who  expressed  the  same  opinion  which  you  say 
he  has  expressed  in  California.  At  my  earnest  request  he  said  he  would 
read  the  papers.  The  result  on  his  mind  you  see  in  the  last  copy  of  '  The 
Standard'  (November  19,  letter  of  Judge  Maguire  to  S.  R.  JM  .).     [His 


502  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1886-1887 

Fred.  Cook,  nor  the  Kepublican  candidate,  Colonel  Fred. 
D.  Grant,  son  of  the  late  General  U.  S.  Grant,  made  any 
particular  canvass;  whereas  George  spoke  everywhere  and 
to  large  audiences.  He  therefore  became  confident,  as 
did  those  about  him,  of  a  big  vote — he  hoped  150,000. 
But  fate  decreed  otherwise.  He  received  only  72,000 
votes,  as  against  459,000  for  the  Kepublican  and  480,000 
for  the  Democratic  candidate,  respectively.  In  New  York 
City  he  received  less  than  38,000,  as  against  68,000  the 
year  before.  Louis  F.  Post,  who  was  candidate  for  Dis- 
trict Attorney  on  the  local  or  county  ticket  of  the  labour 
party,  was  with  Mr.  George  when  news  of  the  crushing 
defeat  came.     He  has  said: 

"He  and  I  went  to  the  Astor  House  to  watch  the  re- 
turns on  the  'Herald'  bulletins  across  the  way.  They 
were  frightfully  disappointing.  It  was  soon  evident  to 
both  of  us  that  the  United  Labour  Party  movement  had 
that  day  collapsed.  In  that  frame  of  mind  we  went  up- 
town, and  just  as  our  car  was  about  to  start,  we  standing 
on  the  front  platform,  I  said:  'Well,  George,  do  you  see 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  this?'  He  looked  at  me  with 
an  expression  of  simple  confidence  which  I  shall  never 
forget,  and  answered :  'No,  I  don't  see  it ;  but  it's  there.' 
Then  he  went  on  to  say  how  he  had  thought  a  way  of 
bringing  back  the  people  to  the  land  had  opened  in  the 
labour  campaign  of  the  preceding  year,  but  now  that 
way  had  closed;  yet  another  way  would  open,  and  when 
that  closed  still  another,  until  the  Lord's  will  on  earth 
would  be  done." 

finding  was  that  the  condemned  anarchists  were  ' '  all  guilty  of  wilful, 
deliberate,  premeditated  murder."] 

"It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  the  man  who  acts  solelj'  by  con- 
science must  often  be  misunderstood  and  seem  to  others  as  if  he  were 
acting  from  low  motives,  when  in  reality  he  is  acting  from  the  highest. 
This  cannot  be  avoided,  but  I  so  much  value  your  esteem  and  friendship 
that  I  want  to  make  this  personal  explanation  to  you." 


Age,  47-48]  THE  HAND  OF  THE  LORD  503 

Mr.  George  left  the  car  to  go  to  the  labour  party 
headquarters.  There  he  found  a  crowd  of  men  struck 
dumb  and  utterly  disheartened  with  the  defeat.  He 
sprang  upon  the  platform  and  words  of  hope  and  courage 
came  from  him,  which  loosed  in  his  hearers  a  flood  of 
emotions  that  showed  themselves  in  frantic  cheer  on  cheer 
and  a  pressing  forward  to  grasp  the  leader's  hands. 


CHAPTEE  X. 
PEOGRESS    THEOUGH    DISSENSIONS. 

1887-1889.  Age,  48-50. 

'"YTTHO  is  there  to  whom  'years  have  brought  the  phil- 
▼  T  osophic  mind/  who,  looking  back  over  his  own 
career,  may  not  see  how  often  what  seemed  at  the  time  to 
be  disaster  has  really  proved  a  blessing  in  disguise;  that 
opportunity  has  come  out  of  disappointment;  and  that 
the  thing  which  he  at  the  moment  most  strove  to  gain 
would  have  proved  the  thing  which  it  would  have  been 
worst  for  him  to  have?" 

Thus  wrote  Henry  George  in  "The  Standard"  immedi- 
ately after  the  election  of  1887.  He  expected  a  new  hope 
to  rise  out  of  the  great  defeat.  It  was  a  repetition  of 
the  thought  he  had  uttered  to  Louis  F.  Post  on  election 
night,  that,  though  the  old  road  had  closed,  a  new  way 
would  open.  And  the  new  way  did  open  within  a  few 
weeks,  for  President  Cleveland  sent  to  Congress  a  mes- 
sage advising  a  reduction  of  the  tariff.  It  was  not  a 
free  trade  message;  it  expressly  repudiated  free  trade. 
It  was  the  weak  little  cry  of  "tariff  reform."  But  it  was  a 
crack  in  the  tariff  dike  that  discussion  would  wear  larger. 
The  hitherto  dominant  rings  and  reactionary  protection- 
ist powers  inside  the  Democratic  party,  and  Mr.  Blaine 
and  the  Republicans  outside,  made  dire  threats  against 

504 


Age,  48-50] 


TARIFF  ISSUE  RAISED  505 


this  policy.  But  the  President  was  firm.  He  prepared 
for  a  hard,  stubborn  fight.  This  could  only  be  educa- 
tional and  bear  upon  the  campaign  in  the  fall  of  1888, 
as  a  Republican  Senate  stood  ready  to  checkmate  any- 
thing the  Democratic  House  of  Eepresentatives  might 
choose  to  do  in  the  matter. 

This  laying  aside  of  the  old  war  issues  and  raising  the 
tariff  question  was  precisely  what  Henry  George  had 
hoped  for  since  1876,  when  he  made  free  trade  speeches 
in  California  for  Tilden,  and  to  bring  on  which  he  sev- 
eral years  later  wrote  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  For 
the  abolition  of  the  tariff  was  necessary  to  establish  the 
single  tax  as  a  national  policy.  And  because  parties  at 
all  times  had  been  nothing  to  him,  but  principles  every- 
thing, he  quickly  announced  that  while  he  thought  it 
unwise  for  single  taxers  to  commit  themselves  to  a  line 
of  policy  so  far  in  advance  of  possible  changes  in  the 
political  situation,  yet  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  would 
have  to  vote  with  the  Democratic  party  and  support  Cleve- 
land should  Cleveland  be  renominated  and  should  he  con- 
tinue his  assault  on  the  tariff. 

Post,  Croasdale,  Johnson,  Lewis,  Shearman,  Garrison 
of  Massachusetts,  Maguire  of  California  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  active  single  taxers  in  ISTew  York  and  over  the 
country  viewed  the  matter  in  the  same  light ;  and  many 
so  expressed  themselves  in  "The  Standard." 

But  there  were  others  who  wished  to  avoid  the  tariff 
issue.  They  desired  to  put  an  independent  single  tax 
candidate  in  the  field.  Some  of  these  had  left  the  Re- 
publican party,  yet  thought  little  good  could  come  from 
the  Democratic  party.  Others,  headed  by  John  Mc- 
Mackin  and  Gaybert  Barnes,  plainly  said  they  favoured 
an  independent  campaign  in  the  "doubtful"  States  of 
Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Indiana.     When 


506  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1887-1889 

drawn  into  the  debate  in  the  columns  of  "The  Standard" 
over  the  matter,  Mr.  George  said  that  this  did  not  look 
like  standing  up  even  for  the  single  tax,  but  rather  like 
leading  the  "United  Labour  Party  into  the  same  igno- 
minious death  trap  into  which  Butler  led  the  Greenback- 
Labour  Party"  in  1884 — Butler  going  into  the  field  osten- 
sibly as  an  independent  candidate,  but  towards  the  end 
of  the  canvass  showing  an  undisguised  purpose  to  defeat 
the  Democratic  candidate,  Cleveland,  and  elect  the  Ee- 
publican  candidate,  Blaine. 

This  independent  movement  probably  would  have  had 
no  standing  whatever  but  for  the  support  of  Dr.  McGlynn. 
He  had  made  speeches  for  Cleveland  in  1884  and  was 
still  on  friendly  terms  with  him.  Moreover,  he  was  a 
thorough  free  trader.  But  he  could  not  endure  the  idea 
of  even  the  loosest  kind  of  an  alliance  with  Tammany 
Hall,  the  representative  of  Democracy  in  New  York  City. 
Tammany  Hall  had  worked  hand  in  hand  with  Archbishop 
Corrigan  and  his  advisers  in  seeking  to  crush  the  land 
or  single  tax  movement  and  those  who  headed  it.  Hence 
association  with  it  was  for  him  intolerable. 

Barnes  and  McMackin  had  control  of  the  central  ma- 
chinery of  what  was  left  of  the  United  Labour  Party. 
They  also  controlled  the  executive  committee  of  the  Land 
and  Labour  clubs.  The  names  of  both  of  these  organi- 
sations were  used  in  February  in  a  call  for  a  national 
convention.  George  was  aspersed  for  refusing  to  join. 
And  here,  indeed,  to  the  superficial  was  the  spectacle  of 
the  prime  mover  in  the  single  tax  cause  refusing  to  con- 
tinue in  the  direct  line  of  the  single  tax  movement.  Fric- 
tion was  bound  to  arise,  and  friction  did  arise,  between 
those  who  were  for  George's  policy  and  those  against  it. 
A  split  occurred  in  the  Anti-Poverty  Society.  Not  to 
make  scandal,  Mr.  George  and  his  supporters  withdrew. 


Age,  48-50]  ANTI-POVERTY  SPLIT  507 

At  this  time,  when  feeling  among  single  taxers  all  over 
the  country  was  running  high,  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Milne, 
the  California  poet,  wrote  a  letter  of  approval  to  "The 
Standard"'  office  in  which,  quoting  a  taunt  that  Henry 
George  "belonged  to  a  party,"  she  exclaimed:  "Belonged 
to  a  party !  No !  not  even  a  nation,  not  even  an  era 
can  claim  him — he  belongs  to  the  world !  to  all  time !" 
Mr.  George  replied  (March  7,  1888),  and  none  but  Mrs. 
Milne  saw  this  letter  till  after  his  death: 

"I  am  very  glad  to  know  that  you  approve  of  my 
course,  and  I  thank  you  for  your  good  opinion;  but,  to 
speak  frankly,  I  do  not  like  the  extravagance  of  your 
praise.  This  is  not  affectation.  Such  praise  is  the 
deadliest  poison  that  can  be  offered  to  the  human  soul, 
and  were  I  ever  to  accejjt  it,  my  power  would  soon  be 
gone.  What  power  I  have  had  comes  from  the  fact  that 
I  know  my  own  weakness;  and  when  duty  lay  on  me, 
have  neither  feared  blame  nor  sought  praise.  If  you 
shall  survive  me,  as  in  the  order  of  nature  will  be  the 
case,  then,  when  you  have  heard  that  I  am  dead,  and  it 
can  be  said  of  me,  he  'has  fought  the  good  fight,  he  has 
kept  the  faith,'  write  me  a  requiem  song  of  gladness  and 
hope."  1 


Before  the  Presidential  battle  opened  other  things  of 
prime  importance  to  Mr.  George  occurred.  In  January, 
1888,  "The  Standard"  had  entered  its  second  year.  With 
subsidence  of  the  excitement  arising  from  Dr.  McGlynn's 
excommunication  and  the  State  campaign,  the  circulation 
ran  down  to  between  20,000  and  25,000.  Though  this 
was  several  times  as  large  as  other  weeklies  that  were  re- 
garded as  "good  advertising  mediums,"  its  radical  doc- 

lA  few  days  after  his  death  a  requiem  by  Mrs.  Milne,  entitled  "From 
the  Battle,"  appeared  in  the  San  Francisco  "Star." 


508  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

trines  made  advertisers  shy  and  the  journal  had  to  fol- 
low the  pathway  of  the  elder  Garrison's  "Liberator"  and 
of  almost  all  social  reform  papers  (go  almost  without  ad- 
vertising— the  mainstay  of  a  newspaper).  It  was  being 
read  by  thinking  people  in  the  various  walks  of  life  and 
was  having  strong  intellectual  influence;  but  its  large 
stafE  was  expensive  and  Mr.  George  was  financially  draw- 
ing less  and  less  from  it.  Lecturing,  however,  now  began 
to  yield  something,  yet  this,  like  his  books,  did  not  return 
what  many  of  his  friends  doubtless  supposed.  Only  the 
year  before  (January  29,  1887),  he  wrote  to  his  friend 
Giitschow  of  San  Francisco: 

"That  you  should  share  in  the  notion  that  I  have 
made  so  much  money  somewhat  surprises  me  and  not  a 
little  amuses.  I  allow  all  such  newspaper  statements  to 
go  uncontradicted  and  do  not  publish  my  real  condition 
to  the  world;  but  the  truth  is,  I  have  made  very  little 
out  of  my  books — a  few  hundred  dollars  a  year,  that  is 
all.  With  the  exception  of  $2,000  I  got  for  the  English 
edition  of  'Social  Problems,'  I  have  had  almost  nothing 
from  abroad — and  I  am  not  a  good  saver,  and  besides 
my  living  expenses,  have  large  demands  to  meet.  But 
the  net  truth  is  that  on  the  day  I  started  'The  Standard' 
I  was  some  thousands  of  dollars  poorer  than  when  I  left 
San  Francisco,  owing  that  much  more  money.  The  sort 
of  work  that  I  have  done  does  not  pay.  In  lecturing,  for 
instance,  I  have  never  made  anything.  The  times  that 
I  have  lectured  for  nothing  and  given  up  my  fee  have 
eaten  up  all  I  got  in  at  other  times.  I  merely  mention 
this  that  you  may  know  the  real  truth." 

Mr.  George  sacrificed  his  copyrights  or  gave  away  books 
whenever  he  thought  one  or  the  other  would  help  to 
spread  his  principles;  and  as  for  lecturing,  he  wrote  to 
his  wife  from  the  West  in  1887:  "The  working  class 
won't  come  to  high  priced  lectures  and  there  is  not  enough 


Age,  48-50]  THE  HUTCHINS'  BEQUEST  509 

of  the  other."  At  another  time  he  wrote:  "I  can't  go 
around  assessing  the  people."^  Happily  this  improved 
with  time,  for  his  pay  lectures  became  increasingly  at- 
tended. Yet  1888  was  like  many  a  year  preceding — one 
of  financial  concern.  Mr.  George  removed  "The  Stand- 
ard" office  up-town  to  13  Union  Square,  and  his  residence 
from  Harlem  to  East  Nineteenth  Street,  the  one  in  this 
way  being  brought  within  a  short  walk  of  the  other. 

What  may  have  widened  the  belief  that  Henry  George 
enjoyed  ample  means  were  frequent  references  in  the 
newspapers  to  his  obtaining  a  substantial  bequest,  some 
setting  the  figures  as  high  as  $30,000.  Cynics  marked 
how  the  philosopher  "progressed  from  poverty."  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  that  this  bequest,  first  and  last, 
brought  little  but  expense  and  trouble. 

George  Hutchins  of  Ancora,  Camden  Co.,  New  Jersey, 
a  retired  farmer,  dying  in  the  fall  of  1886,  left  the  bulk 
of  an  estate  officially  appraised  at  something  less  than 
$10,000  to  Henry  George  in  trust  for  the  dissemination 
of  the  George  books.  Mr.  George  had  never  before  heard 
of  this  man,  but  regarded  the  bequest  as  a  sign  of  the 
times  and  was  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  terms  of  the 
trust,  when  he  learned  from  the  widow  that  she  had  not 
been  adequately  provided  for.  Concluding  that  the  en- 
tire estate  was  not  more  than  she  morally  ought  to  have, 
he  took  legal  advice  with  the  view  of  refusing,  in  her 
favour,  the  bequest  to  him.  But  he  found  this  step  to 
be  impossible,  for  the  collateral  heirs  opposed.  Indeed, 
they  wished  to  break  the  will,  hoping  thereby  to  get  two- 
thirds  of  the  estate  for  themselves.     They  brought  action 

iQne  of  tliese  letters  to  Sirs.  Geors;e  calls  attention  to  a  marked  char- 
acteristic—  preoccupation.  "I  flatter  myself,"  he  WTote,  "that  I  lost 
nothing  until  to-night,  when  I  found  I  had  left  my  nice  new  dress 
boots  somewhere." 


510  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

and  saddled  big  expenses  for  lawyer's  fees  upon  the  estate. 
Vice-Chancellor  Bird  in  May,  1888,  held  the  will  void 
on  the  ground  that  Mr.  George's  books  were  opposed  to 
public  policy  in  declaring  private  property  in  land  to  be 
robbery.^  Mr.  George  was  indignant  and  disgusted  over 
this  condemnation  of  his  j)rinciples,  but  notwithstanding 
his  desire  to  vindicate  them,  he  offered  to  forego  appeal 
if  the  collateral  heirs  would  allow  the  property  to  go  to 
the  widow.  They  refused.  He  therefore  appealed  and 
won,^  his  attorneys  at  this  stage  being  James  F.  Minturn, 
Corporation  Attorney  of  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  and  L.  A.  Kus- 
sell  of  Cleveland,  0.,  neither  of  whom,  as  Mr.  George 
himself  said,  "asked  nor  received  even  the  cost  of  print- 
ing their  briefs."  Mr.  George  then  tried  to  have  the 
widow  made  trustee  in  his  stead.  Failing  in  this,  he  in- 
structed his  attorney  not  to  oppose  any  claims  made  by 
her,  and  her  share  was  thereby  largely  increased  at  the 
expense  of  the  bequest.  This  left  Mr.  George  as  trustee 
a  claim  to  the  real  estate  (which  he  made  over  for  nothing 
to  Mrs.  Hutchins)  and  $584  from  the  personal  property. 
This  money  had  been  paid  for  him  to  John  T.  Woodhull 
of  Camden,  his  former  attorney.  Woodhull  handed 
George  $256,  of  which  the  latter  gave  $70  to  the  widow 
and  retained  $186,  to  pay  for  the  actual  cost  of  paper, 
presswork  and  mailing  of  some  of  his  books  to  fulfill  the 
letter  of  the  bequest.  But  George  had  to  bring  suit 
against  Woodhull  to  recover  money  still  in  the  latter's 
hands,  and  this  suit  dragged  along  for  several  years.  The 
sequel  came  in  1892,  when  Mrs.  Hutchins,  the  childless 
widow,  was  forced  upon  public  charity.  Her  mind  had 
been  weakened  by  her  troubles,  and  she  had  lost  every 


1  Hutchins  vs.  George,  44  N".  J.  Equity  Reports,  p.  124. 
2  William  S.  Braddock  exec.  vs.  George,  45  N.  J.  Equity  Reports,  p.  757. 


Age,  48-50]  CLEVELAND'S  CAMPAIGN  511 

penny  she  had  obtained  under  the  will  and  through  Mr. 
George's  efforts.  The  announcement  was  made  in  some 
of  the  newspapers  that  the  woman  whose  husband  had  left 
Henry  George  $30,000  was  in  the  almshouse!  But  this 
was  corrected  as  soon  as  the  real  facts  became  known. 
Mr.  George  now  quietly  sent  little  sums  of  money  for  the 
care  of  the  heartsick  and  brain- weary  old  woman;  and 
when  she  died,  which  she  did  soon  afterwards,  he  bore 
the  expense  of  her  simple  interment  in  a  grave  beside  her 
husband  at  Ancora. 

But  to  go  back  to  1888 :  Grover  Cleveland,  despite 
strong  opposition  of  the  protectionists  in  the  party,  was 
renominated  by  the  Democrats  for  the  presidency,  with 
United  States  Senator  Allen  G.  Thurman  of  Indiana  for 
the  vice-presidency.  Ex-United  States  Senator  Benja- 
min Harrison  of  Indiana  and  Levi  P.  Morton  of  New 
York,  were  the  Eepublican  candidates.  In  his  letter  of 
acceptance,  Cleveland  stood  by  his  guns,  and  the  tariff 
became  the  main  issue  in  the  fight.  "The  Standard"  went 
with  might  and  main  for  absolute  free  trade.  Mr.  George 
made  a  number  of  speeches  in  New  York  State  and  sev- 
eral in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and  he  and  his 
friends  held  a  series  of  crowded  mass  meetings  in  Cooper 
Union.  One  of  these  latter  meetings  was  of  unusual  na- 
ture in  politics.  The  entire  time  was  devoted  by  Mr. 
George  to  answering  questions  from  the  audience  on  the 
tariff  issue.  Another  of  these  meetings  marked  the  ap- 
pearance of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  younger,  in  the 
cause.  He  had  come  to  be  interested  in  the  single  tax 
question  by  reading  the  controversy  with  the  Duke  of 
Argyll.     He  subsequently  said: 

"It  was  at  Cooper  Union  in  New  York,  August  27, 
1888,  at  a  great  free  trade  meeting,  that  I  formally  and 
publicly  declared  my  adherence  to  the  cause,  unreserv- 


512  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

edly  joining  the  ranks  of  the  workers  who  are  to  know  no 
pause  or  rest  while  life  and  strength  persist.  The  bap- 
tism was  complete.  Thereafter,  it  was  my  privilege  to 
stand  on  many  platforms  by  the  side  of  Henry  George; 
to  share  the  intimacy  of  his  home,  and  to  use  my  tongue 
and  pen  in  behalf  of  the  new  abolition." 


In  these  and  other  ways  the  single  taxers  carried  on 
such  a  vigorous,  radical  canvass  in  support  of  Cleve- 
land^ as  to  make  the  moderate  Democrats  murmur,  "de- 
liver us  from  our  friends"  and  to  cause  the  Democratic 
managers  in  New  York  to  give  out  as  a  marching  refrain 
in  the  party  parade  the  lines 

"Don't,  don't,  don't  be  afraid. 
Tariff  reform  is  not  free  trade." 

Mr.  George  believed  that  this  timid,  defenceless  posi- 
tion of  the  Democratic  managers  and  lack  of  radical, 
aggressive  tactics  was  the  cause  of  Cleveland's  defeat,  just 
as  a  similar  timidity  had  defeated  Hancock  in  1880.  But 
looking  beyond  individual  success  or  failure,  he  believed 
that  the  fight  had  brought  the  people  face  to  face  with 
the  taxation  question  and  helped  to  make  way  for  their 
education  on  the  single  tax.  As  he  had  expected,  Cowdrey 
and  Wakefield,  the  United  Labour  Party's  candidates  for 
the  presidency  and  vice-presidency  had  got  an  insignifi- 
cant vote — in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  its  strongest  cen- 
tres, less  than  eighteen  hundred.  It  was  charged  that 
some  of  the  managers  had  openly  worked  for  the  Eepub- 
lican  candidate  on  election  day.  Perhaps  the  charge  was 
made  with  reason,  as  one  of  the  early  acts  of  the  new  ad- 

1  Such  was  the  enthusiasm  among  single  taxers  that  Silas  M.  Burroughs 
crossed  the  Atlantic  expressly  to  vote  for  Mr.  Cleveland. 


Age,  48-50] 


PEOGEESS  OVEE  SEA  513 


ministration  was  to  appoint  several  of  the  leading  man- 
agers of  the  United  Labour  Party  to  Federal  office. 

There  had  been  a  year  of  hard  work  for  Henry  George. 
His  English  friend,  William  Saunders,  M.P.,  who  was 
about  to  return  to  London  after  a  short  business  visit  in 
the  United  States,  invited  Mr.  George  to  take  a  run  with 
him  across  the  sea  for  a  change  of  scene.  Mr.  George 
accepted,  and  left  soon  after  the  election.  But,  as  he 
wrote  back  to  "The  Standard" :  "When  I  heard  the  shouts 
from  the  approaching  tender  in  Southampton  and  saw  the 
placards  of  'Welcome,'  and  still  more  when,  at  the  Water- 
loo Station,  the  surging  crowds  of  Mr.  Saunders'  con- 
stituents, who  had  been  waiting  from  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  till  half  past  ten  at  night,  pressed  round  us, 
I  realised  that  I  should  not  get  much  rest  in  England." 

In  the  four  years  since  he  had  last  been  there  the 
truths  he  held  so  dear  had  made  great  progress  towards 
the  last  of  those  three  stages  into  which  the  progress  of 
an  idea  has  been  divided,  viz. :  I — It  is  too  ridiculous  to 
be  considered;  II — It  is  against  religion;  III — We  al- 
ways knew  it.  One  striking  sign  of  this  progress  ap- 
l)eared  in  the  form  of  a  text-book  on  political  economy. 
It  was  by  Professor  J.  E.  Symes  of  University  College, 
Nottingham,  England,  and  was  written  from  the  single 
tax  point  of  view.  Another  unmistakable  sign  was  that 
in  starting  a  daily  newspaper  in  London,  "The  Star," 
T.  P.  O'Connor,  one  of  Mr.  Parnell's  most  brilliant  par- 
liamentary supporters,  announced  in  his  salutatory  the 
"taxation  of  ground  values"  (the  term  used  in  England  for 
single  tax)  to  be  one  of  the  basic  principles  of  the  paper. 
Still  a  third  sign  was  the  utterance  of  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Coleridge  in  an  address  to  the  Scottish  Judicial  Society 
the  year  before,  in  which,  speaking  with  reference  to  the 
land  laws  of  the  United  Kingdom,  he  was  reported  as 


514  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

saying:  "These  may  be  for  the  general  advantage,  and 
if  they  can  be  shown  to  be  so,  by  all  means  they  should 
be  maintained;  but  if  not,  does  any  man  with  any- 
thing he  is  pleased  to  call  his  mind  deny  that  a  state 
of  law  under  which  mischief  can  exist,  under  which 
the  country  itself  would  exist  not  for  its  people  but  for 
a  mere  handful  of  them,  ought  to  be  instantly  and  abso- 
lutely set  aside?"  Yet  a  fourth  sign  was  an  interview 
with  Count  Leon  Tolstoi  which  appeared  in  the  "Pall 
Mall  Gazette."  In  it  the  great  Russian  moralist  said: 
"In  thirty  years  private  property  in  land  will  be  as  much  a 
thing  of  the  past  as  now  is  serfdom.  England,  America 
and  Russia  will  be  the  first  to  solve  the  problem.  ,  .  . 
Henry  George  had  formulated  the  next  article  in  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  progressist  Liberals  of  the  world." 

But  without  these  and  many  similar  signs,  the  size, 
character  and  warmth  of  the  assemblages  before  which 
Henry  George  spoke  during  his  short  stay  in  Great  Britain 
must  have  been  to  the  most  casual  observer  an  unmistak- 
able indication  of  the  set  and  strength  of  the  tide  of 
thought.  He  addressed  a  gathering  of  clergymen  of  the 
Established  Church  in  Zion  College  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  of  which  Rev.  Stewart  D. 
Headlam  was  chief  spirit;  the  congregation  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Parker  at  the  midweek  service  in  the  City  Temple;  a 
conference  of  Congregational  ministers  in  Memorial  Hall, 
on  invitation  of  Albert  Spicer;  a  meeting  of  the  Knights 
of  Labour  at  Smethwick,  near  Birmingham;  a  meeting 
of  the  Council  of  the  Financial  Reform  Association  at 
Liverpool,  by  whom  he  was  presented  with  an  engrossed 
address;  a  mixed  audience  in  the  City  Hall,  Glasgow; 
another  at  Lambeth  Baths,  London,  and  an  assemblage  of 
banqueting  friends  before  leaving.  It  was  at  the  Lambeth 
meeting  that  he  uttered  the  pithy  sentence  which  has  since 


Mrs.  George. 

Ffvtn  photograph  taken  in  1898. 


Age,  48-50]  IN   THE  BRITISH  ISLES  515 

been  much  quoted:  "Don't  buy  the  landlords  out,  dont 
kick  them  out,  but  tax  them  out." 

So  strong  seemed  the  effect  of  the  two  weeks'  visit,  that 
the  friends  in  Great  Britain — Saunders,  Walker,  Durant, 
Burroughs,  McGhee  and  the  others — pressed  Mr.  George 
to  return  very  soon  and  make  an  extended  speaking  trip.^ 
This  he  consented  to  do.  His  stay  in  the  United  States 
was  therefore  short.  After  some  lecturing  in  the  West; 
an  address  on  taxation  matters,  in  company  with  Tom 
L.  Johnson  and  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  before  an  inves- 
tigating committee  of  the  Ohio  legislature;  and  attend- 
ence  at  a  tariff  reform  conference  in  Chicago  as  a  delegate 
from  the  New  York  Free  Trade  Club,  Mr.  George  early 
in  March  (1889)  returned  to  England,  accompanied  by 
his  wife,  his  two  daughters  and  Miss  Cranford,  daughter 
of  John  P.  Cranford  of  Brooklyn. 

Measuring  his  strength  by  his  zeal,  Mr.  George  laid  out 
an  immense  amount  of  work  for  himself.  In  addition 
to  lecturing  almost  nightly  and  meeting  and  talking  with 
great  numbers  of  people,  he  planned  to  write  weekly  let- 
ters to  "The  Standard."  He  spoke  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  Great  Britain  and  twice  in  Ireland.  His 
audiences  were  no  larger  than  on  the  former  trips,  but 
their  character  was  different.  He  said  at  the  reception 
given  to  him  on  his  return  home : 

"The  temper  of  the  audience  had  changed.  It  was 
not  this  time  to  hear  a  strange  thing  that  they  gathered ; 
it  was  to  hear  something  of  which  they  had  more  than  an 
inkling.     And  the  men  who  took  part — who  came  for- 

1  At  the  New  York  welcome  meeting  to  Mr.  George  on  his  return  from 
Great  Britain,  Louis  F.  Post  announced  that  an  enthusiastic  single  taxer 
who  had  selected  the  name  of  Henry  George  for  a  new  comer  expected  in 
his  family,  had  found  it  necessary,  on  the  development  of  events,  to  com- 
promise on  the  name  Henrietta  Georgiua. 


516  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOBaE  [1887-I88a 

ward  to  occupy  the  chairs — sat  ou  the  platform  to  move 
the  votes  of  thanks  that  are  customary  there  on  such 
occasions — were  men  who  formerly  would  not  have 
thought  of  being  in  such  a  place.  They  were,  generally 
speaking,  the  local  notables,  the  file  leaders,  the  active 
workers,  as  we  here  would  say,  of  the  Eadical  wing  of  the 
Liberal  party.  .  .  .  Our  ideas  are  in  the  air;  men 
get  them  without  knowing  where  they  come  from;  men 
get  them  without  thinking  they  are  getting  them,  and 
men  get  them  who  still  look  upon  us  as  cranks  and  vi- 
sionaries. Mr.  Henry  Labouchere,  M.P.,  for  instance, 
recently  declared  in  a  speech  to  his  constituents  that  he 
was  not  such  a  visionary  as  Henry  George.  He  did  not 
propose  to  take  the  land  from  the  landlords  and  rent  it 
out  again.  What  he  was  in  favour  of  was  putting  a 
tax  upon  land  values !" 


The  first  lecture  was  on  the  Eighth  Commandment  and 
was  delivered  in  a  London  Church — Camberwell  Green 
Chapel,  Albert  Spicer  in  the  chair — and  the  last  was  on 
the  world-wide  land  question  in  the  Dublin  Kotunda, 
Michael  Davitt  in  the  chair  and  making  a  straight-out 
single  tax  speech  in  introduction.  "Heckling"  on  this, 
as  on  the  former  trips,  was  a  distinct  feature.  We  may 
pause  for  a  moment  for  a  glimpse  of  a  meeting  showing 
Mr.  George's  characteristics — a  meeting  of  Welsh  miners 
at  Eica.     He  opened  in  this  way: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  shall  gladly 
answer  any  questions  after  my  lecture,  but  'turn  about 
is  fair  play.'  Let  me  ask  you  a  few  questions  first. 
How  much  can  a  collier  earn?  (A  voice:  'From  20s.  to 
25s.')  For  how  long?  ('All  the  year  round.')  How 
much  does  that  come  to?  ('Between  £60  to  £70.') 
Well,  for  £G0  to  £70  a  year  a  collier  can  get  steady  work 
by  risking  his  life  and  limb.  It  is  not  an  easy  occupa- 
tion, I  suppose?     ('No.')     And  coal  miners  don't  live 


Age,  48-50]  SPEAKING  ANECDOTES  517 

as  long  as  Lord  Chancellors?  (Laughter.  A  voice: 
'Not  usually.')  But  men  get  used  to  anything.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  people  worship  snakes,  that  human  sac- 
rifices are  made,  that  women's  feet  are  squeezed  so  that 
they  cannot  walk.  I  believe  we  could  do  all  this  if  we 
were  only  educated  to  it.  Look  at  the  advent  of  the 
steam-engine,  the  railway,  the  telegraph,  the  sewing 
machine.  Everywhere  around  us  we  see  amazing  things 
invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  man  to  facilitate  produc- 
tion, to  lighten  labour.  All  these  things  should  have 
increased  wages.  But  they  cannot  have  increased  wages 
if  colliers  can  earn  only  £G0  to  £70  a  year.  Prof.  Thor- 
old  Rogers  of  Oxford  University  told  me  last  night  that 
after  making  calculations  of  the  purchasing  value  of 
money  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  and  that  of  to-day, 
he  found  that  the  labourers  in  those  days  had  £145  a 
year.  In  those  days  when  neither  skill  nor  science  had 
advanced  to  help  mankind,  they  got  as  much  and  more 
than  labourers  get  to-day." 

Here  is  a  passage  from  a  lecture  in  the  Town  Hall  at 
Aston-under-Lyne,  England  (Rev.  Thomas  Green,  M.A., 
Chairman  of  the  Liberal  Association,  presiding),  that  put 
the  audience  in  roars  of  laughter. 

"The  man  who  owns  the  land,  owns  the  air  as  well. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  .  .  .  There  has  been 
only  one  attempt  that  I  have  ever  heard  of  to  make  air 
separately  property.  .  .  .  Near  Strasburg,  in  Ger- 
many, about  the  12th  or  13th  century,  there  was  a  con- 
vent of  monks,  who  put  up  a  windmill.  One  of  the  lords 
in  that  neighbourhood — they  would  be  called  robbers 
now  (cheers) — finding  he  could  not  get  any  tribute 
from  them,  set  up  a  claim  to  the  ownership  of  the  air, 
and  when  they  put  up  their  windmill  said,  'All  the  wind 
in  these  parts  belongs  to  me.'  ( Laughter. )  The  monks 
sent  in  hot  haste  to  the  bishop,  and  told  him  of  this 
claim.  The  bishop  'got  up  on  his  hind  legs' — (laughter) 
— and    cursed    in    ecclesiastical    language.     (Renewed 


518  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

laughter. )  He  said  the  baron  was  a  son  of  Belial ;  that 
he  did  not  own  the  wind  in  that  province;  that  all  the 
wind  that  blew  over  it  belonged  to  Mother  Church — 
(laughter) — and  that  if  the  baron  did  not  take  back  his 
demand  for  rent,  he  would  launch  with  bell,  book  and 
candle  the  curse  of  Eome.  (Laughter.)  Mr.  Baron 
backed  down.  But  if  he  had  owned  the  land  he  would 
not  have  needed  to  set  up  a  claim  to  the  wind.  Men 
cannot  breathe  the  air  unless  they  have  land  to  stand 
on/' 

In  Eichard  McGhee's  words,  "Henry  George  made  a 
triumphant  march  through  Scotland."  The  chief  event 
was  in  the  City  Hall,  Glasgow,  where  on  Sunday  evening 
April  28,  Mr.  George  delivered  a  sermon  on  the  subject 
of  "Thy  Kingdom  Come,"  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Henry  George  Institute.  Eev.  J.  M.  Cruikshanks  of  St. 
Eollox  United  Presbyterian  church,  assisted  by  two  choirs, 
conducted  the  services.  Scarcely  another  person  could 
have  squeezed  into  the  large  hall.^ 

I  Among  the  more  notable  events  during  Mr.  George's 
'appearance  in  London  were  two  debates — one  in  St. 
James's  hall  with  Henry  M.  Hyndman,  the  accomplished 
socialist,  and  the  other  at  the  National  Liberal  Club  with 
Samuel  Smith,  M.P.,  the  highly  esteemed  Liverpool  bene- 
factor, who  defended  established  interests.  Hyndman 
reprobated  the  single  tax  for  making  no  attempt  to  abol- 
ish industrial  competition;  Smith  opposed  it  as  immoral. 
In  each  case  time  was  so  brief  that  Mr.  George  contented 
himself  merely  with  presenting  the  chief  postulates  of 
the  single  tax  doctrine. 

A  respite  from  the  hard  work  came  towards  the  end  of 

iThis  sermon,  like  many  otlier  of  his  Scottisli  addresses,  was  later 
printed  in  tract  form  by  the  Scottish  Land  Restoration  League,  and  scat- 
tered broadcast  through  Scotland. 


Age,  48-50]  THE   PARIS   CONFERENCE  519 

the  tour  when,  accompanied  by  his  family  and  by  a  party 
of  English,  Scottish,  Irish  and  American  friends,  Mr. 
George  went  to  Paris  to  join  in  a  land  reform  conference 
that  Michael  Flurscheim  of  Germany,  an  energetic  land 
reformer,  availing  himself  of  the  encouraging  auspices 
held  out  by  the  management  of  the  exposition  then  in 
progress  in  the  French  capital,  had  got  up  at  short  notice. 
The  conference  was  in  no  sense  a  single  tax  gathering.^ 
All  shades  of  opinion  were  represented  and  half  a  dozen 
tongues.  The  latter  fact  put  Mr.  George  at  much  disad- 
vantage, since  he  could  speak  only  his  native  language. 
Nevertheless  he  met  Michael  Flurscheim  of  Germany, 
Agathon  de  Potter  of  Belgium  and  Jan  Stoffel  of  Hol- 
land; the  Frenchmen  G.  Eug.  Simon,  author  of  "The 
Chinese  City,"  M.  A.  Toubeau,  Professor  Charles  Garnier 
and  Charles  Longuet  of  the  Paris  City  Council,  besides 
other  men  of  continental  thought  and  action,  who  were 
interesting  both  for  their  personalities  and  views.  M. 
Toubeau  especially  invited  attention  by  showing  that  land 
ownership  in  France  was  more  concentrated  than  had  been 
the  case  before  the  great  revolution. 

Mr.  George  had  deep  private  anxieties  at  this  time. 
Almost  as  soon  as  the  family  reached  Paris  the  eldest 
daughter  was  taken  down  with  a  malignant  form  of  scar- 
let fever  and  had  a  slow  recovery.  But  the  more  lasting 
anxiety  came  from  "The  Standard"  office  in  New  York. 
For  more  than  a  year  Mr.  George's  eldest  son  had  been 
acting  as  managing  editor  of  the  paper.     But  the  staff, 

1  "Progress  and  Poverty  "  had  been  translated  into  most  of  the  European 
languages,  and  except  in  France,  was  getting  attention,  though  as  yet 
few  advocates  had  appeared.  The  French  translation,  made  by  P.  L. 
Le  Monnier,  had  been  published  the  year  before,  and  the  translation  of 
"  Protection  or_Free  Trade  ?  "  by  Louis  Vossion,  French  Consul  at  Phila- 
delphia, about  the  same  time  ;  but  neither  work  sold  widely. 


520  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORGE  [1887-1889 

composed  of  strong,  masterful  men  with  individual  per- 
sonalities and  opinions,  and  brought  together  by  Henry 
George  himself,  was  not  as  a  whole  to  be  controlled  by 
his  son  or  by  any  one  else.  Discord  soon  began  to  brew 
in  the  chief's  absence,  and  T.  L.  McCready  and  J.  W. 
Sullivan,  each  of  whom  in  his  own  way  had  done  telling 
work  in  the  columns  of  the  paper,  went  outside  and  pub- 
lished in  a  weekly  just  started  by  Hugh  0.  Pentecost  what 
Mr.  George  regarded  as  an  attack  upon  the  policy  of 
"The  Standard."  Mr.  McCready  did  not  wait  for  Mr. 
George's  return  to  withdraw  from  "The  Standard,"  but 
Mr.  Sullivan  nominally  remained  and  was  dismissed. 
Two  months  and  a  half  later  he  published  in  the  Pentecost 
paper  a  long  article  entitled  "A  Collapse  of  Henry 
George's  Pretensions,'^  which  began  with  abuse  and  ended 
with  a  charge  that  "Progress  and  Poverty"'  was  based 
upon  Patrick  Edward  Dove's  "The  Theory  of  Human 
Progression."  Mr.  George  would  have  ignored  the  article 
as  unworthy  of  attention  had  not  the  charge  of  plagiar- 
ism been  extensively  noticed  in  the  press  and  elsewhere. 
He  therefore  reprinted  the  Sullivan  article  in  "The  Stand- 
ard" (October  19,  1889),  passed  over  the  abuse,  and  an- 
swered the  remainder  by  showing  the  absurdity  of  the 
charge  on  its  face  and  by  pointing  out  that  if  similarity 
of  thought  and  priority  of  authorship  on  Dove's  part  had 
proved  George  a  plagiarist,  then  the  same  reasoning  would 
prove  Dove  to  have  copied  from  Herbert  Spencer,  who 
wrote  similarly  and  earlier;  it  would  likewise  prove  that 
Spencer  stole  from  William  Ogilvie,  Professor  of  Humani- 
ties in  Kings  College,  Aberdeen,  from  1765  to  1819; 
that  Ogilvie  took  from  Thomas  Spence  of  Newcastle-on 
Tyne,  who  wrote  an  essay  on  the  subject  in  1775;  and 
so  on.  Then  Mr.  George  made  a  direct  denial  in  these 
words : 


Age,  48-50]  CHARGE  OF  PLAGIARISM  521 

"When  I  first  came  to  see  what  is  the  root  of  our  social 
difficulties  and  how  this  fundamental  wrong  might  be 
cured  in  the  easiest  way  by  concentrating  taxes  on  land 
values,  I  had  worked  out  the  whole  thing  for  myself 
without  conscious  aid  that  I  can  remember,  unless  it 
might  have  been  the  light  I  got  from  Bissett's  'Strength 
of  Nations'  as  to  the  economic  character  of  the  feudal 
system.  When  I  published  'Our  Land  and  Land  Policy,' 
I  had  not  even  heard  of  the  Physiocrats  and  the  impot 
unique.  But  I  knew  that  if  it  was  really  a  star  I  had 
seen,  others  must  have  seen  it,  too.  And  so  with  'Pro- 
gress and  Poverty.'  I  said  in  that  book  that  it  would 
come  to  many  to  whom  it  would  seem  like  the  echo  of  their 
own  thoughts.  And  beyond  what  I  then  knew,  I  was 
certain  that  there  must  have  been  others  before  me  who 
saw  the  same  essential  truths.  And  as  I  have  heard  of 
such  men  one  after  the  other,  I  have  felt  that  they  gave 
but  additional  evidences  that  we  were  indeed  on  the  true 
track,  and  still  more  clearly  showed  that  though  against 
us  were  ignorance  and  power,  yet  behind  us  were  hope 
and  faith  and  the  wisdom  of  the  ages — the  deepest  and 
clearest  perceptions  of  man." 

This  ended  the  controversy. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

AUSTRALIA   AND   AROUND    THE    WORLD. 

1890.  Age,  51. 

WHILE  in  England  in  the  fall  of  1889,  Mr.  George 
had  met  Charles  L.  Garland,  member  of  the  New 
South  Wales  Parliament  and  President  of  the  Sydney 
Single  Tax  Association.  Mr.  Garland  travelled  about  with 
Mr.  George  for  a  short  time  and  made  some  speeches  from 
the  same  platforms.  He  brought  urgent  entreaties  to  Mr. 
George  to  arrange  for  a  lecture  tour  through  the  Austra- 
lian Colonies,  such  as  had  repeatedly  been  made  through 
Great  Britain.  "Progress  and  Poverty''  and  the  other 
books  had  been  extensively  circulated,  discussion  of  eco- 
nomic subjects  was  on  and  all  things  seemed  ripe  for  a 
big  harvest.  Letters  bearing  the  same  burden  reached 
Mr.  George  after  he  had  returned  to  New  York,  so  that  he 
concluded  to  go  to  Australia.  He  arranged  to  start  in 
January  of  the  new  year. 

Since  his  early  boyhood,  Australia  had  been  a  country 
of  peculiar  interest  to  him.  At  fifteen  he  had  sailed  to 
Melbourne,  then  famous  for  its  gold  discoveries.  Since 
his  manhood  Australia  obtained  and  held  his  admiration 
as  a  country  of  progressive  thought  and  action;  the  home 
of  the  secret  ballot  system  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the 
world;  the  land  where  railroads  and  telegraphs  are  pub- 

522 


Age,  51]  STARTS  FOR  AUSTRALIA  523 

licly  owned  and  operated,  where  savings  banks  and  a  par- 
cels express  service  are  part  of  the  postal  system,  and 
where  many  other  things  are  done  as  a  matter  of  course 
by  the  public  which  in  many  other  countries  would  seem 
revolutionary. 

Mr.  George  arranged  to  write  letters  for  "The  Stand- 
ard" as  frequently  as  lecturing  and  the  mails  would  per- 
mit, but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  campaign  in  Australia 
proved  to  be  so  extraordinarily  exacting  that  he  was  able 
to  write  only  irregularly  and  briefly. 

The  route  lay  by  way  of  San  Francisco.  Mrs.  George 
accompanied  him  on  this  trip  to  her  native  Australia, 
he  playfully  calling  it  their  honeymoon.  The  truth  was 
that  he  had  grown  so  dependent  upon  her  companionship 
that  he  would  no  longer  consent  to  go  far  without  her. 
On  the  other  hand,  his  preoccupation  needed  her  atten- 
tion, for  she  wrote  back  from  St.  Louis  to  their  children: 
"Your  father  this  far  on  the  journey  has  changed  his 
own  for  other  people's  hats  only  five  times !" 

Mr.  George  spoke  at  Bradford,  Pennsylvania;  Den- 
ver, Colorado;  and  Los  Angeles,  California,  on  the  way 
to  the  Golden  Gate.  In  each  city  he  had  large,  appre- 
ciative audiences.  He  also  was  induced  during  the  few 
hours'  lie  over  in  St.  Louis,  where  they  stopped  to  see 
Sister  Teresa,  Mrs.  George's  sister,  to  accept  a  reception 
and  six  o'clock  dinner  at  one  of  the  large  commercial 
clubs.  It  was  a  shining  success,  many  of  the  representa- 
tive men  of  the  city  being  present,  and  as  Mr.  Keeler, 
one  of  the  managers  on  the  occasion,  sententiously  said, 
"twenty-five  million  dollars  sitting  down  to  table."  All 
along  the  line  of  travel  across  country  friends  came  troop- 
ing to  the  stations  to  greet  the  traveller,  invariably  bring- 
ing word  of  progress  by  personal  propaganda. 

One  of  these  incidents  had  a  touch  of  pathos.     It  was 


524  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [igoo 

in  the  Glorietta  Mountains,  in  ISTew  Mexico,  on  the  Santa 
Fe  road.  The  train  stopped  at  nightfall  for  dinner  at  a 
wretched  little  station  in  the  barren  country.  As  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  George  got  off,  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  long, 
ragged,  grizzled  beard  approached  and  welcomed  them. 
But  the  stranger  had  to  make  some  explanation  before 
Mr.  George  recognised  him  as  a  Methodist  minister  whom 
he  had  met  some  years  before  farther  East.  "Yes,"  said 
the  clergyman,  "I  came  West  for  my  lungs,  and  now  I 
am  going  to  die  of  heart  disease  in  this  thin  atmosphere. 
But  while  I  am  still  here  I  propose  to  do  all  I  can  for  the 
cause.  Go  in  to  dinner,  and  when  you  come  out  your 
disciples  will  be  here  to  greet  you."  And  when  the  trav- 
ellers came  from  the  repast  they  found  the  clergyman 
waiting,  and  with  him  five  other  men,  one  of  them  a  train 
hand.  There  in  that  lonely  place  in  the  mountains  they 
were  doing  what  they  could  to  preach  to  whomsoever  came 
their  way  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights. 

When  Mr.  George  entered  California  all  the  papers  of 
the  State  talked  of  him  in  complimentary  terms  and  of 
the  name  he  had  won  in  the  world;  and  they  did  not 
leave  off  until  he  had  sailed  for  Australia.  A  party  of 
San  Franciscans  went  to  Martinez  and  boarded  the  train, 
and  filled  the  car  so  full  that  the  rest  of  the  passengers 
considerately  withdrew  to  other  cars.  Henry  George  was 
very  happy  sitting  with  his  old  comrades  about  him,  lis- 
tening and  laughing  over  the  stories  they  poured  out. 
Dr.  Taylor  with  moistened  eyes  whispered  to  Mrs.  George : 
"Look  at  him.  Not  one  bit  spoiled  by  the  world's  hom- 
age; just  the  same  light-hearted  boy!" 

The  time  was  fully  occupied  from  the  moment  they 
arrived  in  San  Francisco  on  Tuesday  to  the  moment  of 
sailing  out  through  the  Golden  Gate  on  Saturday.  Mr. 
George  lectured  twice  in  San  Francisco  and  once  in  Oak- 


Age,  51]  EE ACHES  SAN  FEANCISCO  525 

land,  made  an  address  to  a  body  of  clergymen  whom  he 
met  at  the  San  Francisco  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  was  enter- 
tained at  dinner  at  Delmonico's  by  his  old-time  friends. 

The  two  San  Francisco  lectures,  both  in  Metropolitan 
Hall  (formerly  called  Temple)  were  on  Tuesday  and  Fri- 
day nights,  the  first  to  a  paid,  general  audience  and  the 
second  to  a  free  audience  of  working  men.  Both  were 
successful  in  every  respect.  The  building  was  packed 
each  time.  One  of  the  daily  papers  said  that  "for  fully 
five  minutes  after  stepping  to  the  front  of  the  stage,  Mr. 
George  looked  upon  a  scene  of  wild  applause."  When 
silence  had  come — a  breathless  silence — with  a  low  trem- 
bling voice,  that  almost  broke  from  emotion — the  "Prophet 
of  San  Francisco" — the  prophet  who  was  being  honoured 
by  his  former  fellow-townsmen,  said: 

"As  I  rise  on  this  stage,  the  past  comes  back  to  me. 
Twelve  years  ago — it  seems  so  far  and  yet  so  near — 
twelve  years  ago;  when  I  was  halt  of  speech;  when  to 
face  an  audience,  it  seemed  to  me,  required  as  much 
courage  as  it  would  to  face  a  battery — I  stood  on  this 
platform  to  speak  my  first  word  in  the  cause  for  which 
I  stand  now.  I  stood  on  this  platform  to  see,  instead 
of  the  audience  that  greets  me  to-night,  a  beggarly 
array  of  empty  benches.  It  is  a  long  time.  Many 
times,  in  this  country  and  in  the  dear  old  world,  I  have 
stood  before  far  greater  audiences  than  this.  I  have 
been  greeted  by  thousands  who  never  saw  me  before, 
as  they  would  greet  a  friend  long  known  and  well 
loved.  But  I  don't  think  it  ever  gave  me  such  pleasure 
to  stand  before  an  audience  as  it  does  to  stand  here 
to-night.  (Applause.)  For  years  and  years  I  have 
been  promising  myself  to  come  back  to  San  Francisco. 
I  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  five  times  before  I  could 
fulfill  that  desire.  I  am  here  now  to  go  in  a  few  days 
to  the  Antipodes;  perhaps  I  may  never  return — who 
knows?     If  I  live  I  shall  try  to.     But  to  San  Fran- 


526  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [i890 

Cisco,  though  I  never  again,  can  be  a  citizen  of  Cali- 
fornia— though  my  path  in  life  seems  away  so  far 
that  California  looks  as  but  a  ridge  on  the  horizon — 
my  heart  has  always  turned,  and  always  will  turn,  to 
the  home  of  my  youth,  to  the  city  in  which  I  grew  up, 
to  the  city  in  which  I  found  so  many  warm  friends — to 
the  country  in  which  I  married  and  in  which  my  chil- 
dren were  born.  Always  it  will  seem  to  me  home ;  and  it 
is  sweet  to  the  man  long  absent  to  be  welcomed  home. 

"Aye,  and  you  men,  old  friends,  tried  and  true — ^you 
men  who  rallied  in  the  early  times  to  our  movement, 
when  we  could  count  each  other  almost  as  upon  one's 
fingers — I  come  back  to  you  to  say  that  at  last  our 
triumph  is  but  a  matter  of  time  (applause)  ;  to  say 
that  never  in  the  history  of  thought  has  a  movement 
come  forward  so  fast  and  so  well. 

"Ten  years  ago,  when  I  left,  I  was  anything  but  hope- 
ful. Ten  years  ago  I  should  not  have  dared  to  say  that 
in  any  time  to  which  I  might  live,  we  should  see  the 
beginning  of  this  great  struggle,  ^or  have  I  cared. 
My  part  (and  I  think  I  can  speak  for  every  man  who 
is  enlisted  in  this  movement) — my  part  has  never  been 
to  predict  results.  Our  feeling  is  the  feeling  of  the 
great  stoic  emperor:  'That  is  the  business  of  Jupiter; 
not  ours.'  'Tis  ours  to  do  the  work  as  we  may;  ours 
to  plant  the  seed  which  is  to  give  the  results.  But  now, 
so  well  forward  is  this  cause;  so  many  strong  advocates 
has  it  in  every  land;  so  far  has  it  won  its  way,  that 
now  it  makes  no  difference  who  lives  or  who  dies,  who 
goes  forward  or  who  holds  back.  Now  the  currents  of 
the  time  are  setting  in  our  favour.  At  last — at  last, 
we  can  say  with  certainty  that  it  will  be  only  a  little 
while  before  all  over  the  English  speaking  world,  and 
then,  not  long  after,  over  the  rest  of  the  civilised  world, 
the  great  truth  will  be  acknowledged  that  no  human 
child  comes  into  this  world  without  coming  into  his 
equal  right  with  all." 

The  lecture  was  a  finished  one.     It  told  upon  those  who 
had  not  heard  Henry  George  before,  and  with  perhaps 


Age,  51] 


IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  527 


greater  effect  upon  those  who  had  known  him  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  speaking  career.  Judge  Coffey  wrote  East : 
"I  was  most  gratified  to  find  that  Mr.  George  had  devel- 
oped such  extraordinary  capacity  as  a  platform  speaker." 
The  "Examiner"  said  of  the  lecture  to  working  men: 
"Hundreds  unable  to  find  seats  stood  in  the  aisles  and 
along  the  walls.  Woollen  shirted  men  sat  side  by  side 
with  elegantly  dressed  women.  The  audience  was  thor- 
oughly republican  and  cosmojjolitan,  and  all  the  different 
elements  that  went  to  make  up  the  crowd  were  equally 
enthusiastic,  and  the  frequent  applause  shook  the  build- 
ing." 

All  this  demonstration  over  the  returned  San  Francis- 
can was  like  honey-dew  to  the  souls  of  his  old  comrades 
who  clustered  around  him  with  every  attention  of  affec- 
tion. One  of  them  tells  how,  while  Mr.  George  stood  on 
Market  Street  talking  with  acquaintances,  one  beggar 
after  another  came  and  asked  him  for  money,  which  each 
one  got.  Some  one  observed  to  the  philosopher  that  he 
was  being  imposed  upon;  that  the  men  who  were  begging 
were  lazy  good-for-nothing  fellows  who  would  not  work. 
"How  can  I  tell  about  that  ?"  he  answered ;  "let  the  respon- 
sibility for  their  actions  rest  upon  them." 

Amid  the  sincerely  warm  wishes  of  a  crowd  of  friends 
who  came  to  the  wharf  to  see  them  off,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
George  sailed  on  February  8  on  the  steamship  Mariposa 
for  Sydney.  The  voyage  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  was 
pleasant  but  uneventful,  and  the  vessel  stopped  a  whole 
day  at  Honolulu,  giving  time  for  driving  and  sight- 
seeing. Mrs.  George  was  sadly  affected  by  a  change  for 
the  worse  in  the  general  appearance  of  the  city  since  her 
childhood's  residence  there.  The  familiar  places  showed 
the  wreck  of  age,  without  the  accompaniment  of  new  build- 
ings or  improvements.     But  more  significant  than  any- 


528  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [i890 

thing  else  was  the  large  number  of  Chinese,  who  seemed 
to  have  pushed  aside  the  Kanakas  or  effaced  them  by  in- 
termarriage. Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  were  entertained  at 
dinner  at  Honolulu  by  a  party  of  officers  belonging  to 
the  United  States  war  vessels,  Nipsic  and  Mohegan,  most 
of  whom  proclaimed  themselves  to  be  believers  in  the  single 
taxer. 

Of  still  more  importance  was  the  stop  at  Auckland, 
New  Zealand.  On  setting  foot  ashore  the  Georges  found 
a  party  of  friends  at  the  wharf,  who  notified  them  that 
the  Anti-Poverty  Society  of  Auckland  had  prepared  an 
illuminated  address  for  presentation  later  in  the  day. 
The  travellers  first  drove  to  the  residence  of  Sir  George 
Grey  at  Parnell  and  received  a  hearty  welcome,  for  that 
diplomatist  and  statesman  had  been  one  of  the  very  first 
among  the  eminent  men  of  the  world  to  read  "Progress 
and  Poverty"  and  to  hail  its  author.  Mr.  George  wrote 
to  "The  Standard"  (February  38)  : 

"I  was  especially  glad  to  meet  him  and  to  find  his 
eightieth  year  sitting  on  him  so  lightly.  It  is  worth 
going  far  to  meet  such  a  man,  soldier,  scholar,  states- 
man and  political  leader — an  aristocrat  by  birth,  who 
when  hardly  thirty  wielded  the  powers  of  a  dictator; 
who  has  been  four  times  governor  of  important  colo- 
nies in  the  most  important  crises  of  their  affairs,  and 
then  premier  of  the  colony  in  which  he  made  his  home; 
Avho  is  yet  an  intense  democrat,  and  who,  unsoured  by 
disappointments  and  undaunted  by  defeats,  retains  in 
the  evening  of  life  all  the  faith  and  hope  that  are  com- 
monly associated  with  youth.  .  .  .  What  struck 
me  particularly  in  his  conversation  was  not  merely  his 
wealth  of  information  of  European  as  well  as  colonial 
history  and  politics,  but  his  earnest,  religious  tone,  his 
calm,  firm  conviction  that  this  life  is  but  a  part  of  the 
larger  life  beyond,  and  his  deep  interest  in  the  well- 
being  of  those  who  are  yet  to  come." 


Age,  51]  SIR  GEORGE  GREY  529 

After  luncheon  Sir  George  drove  his  guests  to  one  of 
the  Auckland  hotels,  where  the  members  of  the  Anti- 
Poverty  Societ}^  had  gathered.  The  complimentary  ad- 
dress was  presented  to  Mr.  George,  and  Sir  George  Grey 
made  a  fine  little  speech,  attesting  his  entire  faith  in  the 
gospel  of  the  single  tax.  He  and  Mr.  George  conversed 
until  the  very  last  moment  of  the  stay,  walking  on  the 
wharf  together  while  the  cajitain  considerately  held  the 
ship  something  beyond  her  time.  Mr.  George  promised 
to  return  to  New  Zealand  and  lecture  on  the  single  tax,  if 
his  Australian  engagements  would  permit.  But  events 
were  against  his  carrying  out  this  plan,  for  two  weeks 
after  reaching  Australia,  he  wrote  back  to  New  York:  "I 
have  spoken  every  night,  Sundays  included,  and  had  I 
been  able  to  cut  myself  up  into  half  a  dozen,  would  still 
have  been  unable  fairly  to  meet  and  talk  with  those  who 
have  come  to  see  me  and  who  have  had  interesting  things 
to  say." 

On  the  day  of  landing  at  Sydney,  Mrs.  George's  native 
city,  there  was  an  official  reception  at  the  town  hall  by 
Mayor  Sydney  Burdekin,  and  a  number  of  other  city  as 
well  as  colonial  dignitaries,  irrespective  of  political  par- 
ties. Indeed,  the  Mayor  himself  was  one  of  the  largest 
land-owners  of  Sydney,  so  that  his  action  bespoke  a  broad, 
generous  mind.  Mr.  George  had  first  to  make  a  short 
speech  from  a  carriage  to  a  dense  throng  before  the 
hall;  and  then  when  he  entered  and  received  the  formal 
welcome  of  the  Mayor,  he  made  a  long  speech,  of  which 
this  was  a  passage,  as  reported  by  the  Sydney  "Daily 
Telegraph" : 


"  ^1 


'In  1883  I  wrote  an  article  in  the  "North  American 
Review"  proposing  the  introduction  of  the  Australian 
system  of  voting  in  the  United  States,  and  I  was  warned 
to  beware  of  the  action  I  was  taking.     But  when  I  left 


530  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i890 

my  country  a  month  ago  ten  States  had  adopted  it, 
and  it  is  certain  eventually  to  be  carried  in  every  one 
of  the  forty-two  States  and  to  become  the  American 
system.  If  you  can  teach  us  more,  for  God's  sake  teach 
it.  Advance  Australia !'  A  thunder  of  applause  fol- 
lowed this  declaration,  which  was  delivered  with  an 
effect  at  once  remarkable  and  indescribable." 


Then  began  a  whirl  of  meetings,  receptions,  interviews 
and  handshakings,  uninterrupted  during  the  stay  in  Aus- 
tralia, except  while  sleeping  and  travelling.  Every  one 
showed  the  utmost  kindness.  Mrs.  George  wrote  home: 
"These  people  make  Americans  blush  when  thinking  of 
hospitality.  ...  I  am  at  this  moment  sitting  in  a 
bower  of  flowers." 

The  second  night  in  Sydney  the  Single  Tax  League  of 
New  South  Wales  honoured  its  guest  with  a  banquet  in 
the  town  hall,  with  C.  L.  Garland,  M.P.,  President  of 
the  League,  as  toastmaster.  Again  the  "Telegraph" 
reports : 

"Mr.  George,  who  was  received  "with  enthusiastic  and 
long-continued  cheering,  said:  'I  do  not  like  these  ban- 
quets. To  be  stuffed  first  is  not  a  good  preparation  for 
making  a  speech,  and  for  a  man  to  sit  and  listen  to 
laudations  such  as  the  chairman  has  made  is  not  pleas- 
ant. (Laughter.)  If  I  am  here  this  night,  if  I  am 
here  as  an  honoured  guest;  if  I  know  this  night  that 
go  where  I  may  over  the  civilised  world,  I  would  find 
men  who  would  gladly  clasp  hands  with  me — if  it  has 
been  given  to  me  to  help  forward  a  great  movement — 
it  is  through  no  merit  of  mine;  it  is  not  from  my 
energy;  it  is  not  from  my  learning;  it  is  not  from  my 
ability — it  is  from  the  simple  fact  that,  seeing  a  great 
truth,  I  swore  to  follow  it.  ("Hear,  hear.")  When 
I  found  the  duty  to  do,  I  determined  that  with  all  the 
strength  I  could  command,   I  would  do  it.     ("Hear, 


Age,  51]  BANQUET   IN   SYDNEY  531 

hear.")  If  I  were  to  take  to  myself  such  flattering 
things  as  have  been  said  to  me  to-night,  my  usefulness 
would  soon  be  ended.'  " 


The  first  formal  lecture  took  place  on  Saturday  night, 
March  8,  in  Protestant  Hall;  a  sermon  followed  next  day 
in  Pitt  Street  Congregational  Church,  the  site  of  Mrs. 
George's  childhood's  home;  and  the  next  week  was  filled 
with  lectures  in  Exhibition  Hall  and  other  places.  The 
weather  was  unusually  rainy,  but  the  audiences  were  nev- 
ertheless very  large.  People  flocked  from  far  and  near; 
and  the  newspapers,  especially  the  "Telegraph,"  gave  fine 
reports  and  extended  editorials. 

The  single  taxers  who  had  long  been  labouring  in  the 
cold  and  with  little  to  cheer  them  were  now,  as  Mrs.  George 
wrote  home,  "fairly  delirious  with  delight"  over  the  unex- 
pected platform  abilities  Mr.  George  exhibited  and  the 
great  public  attention  he  awakened  and  held.  "What  is 
all  the  crowd  about,"  John  Farrell  said  he  heard  one  man 
ask  another  outside  the  Pitt  Street  Church.  "Oh,  a  nov- 
elty that's  all,"  was  the  reply;  "there's  a  man  in  there 
who  is  going  to  preach  Christianity !"  John  Farrell  and 
John  Kamsey,  two  burning  single  taxers,  were  among  the 
most  brilliant  writers  in  iVustralia.  Another  writer  who 
had  carried  the  fiery  cross,  Frank  Cotton,  editor  of  the 
Australian  "Standard,"  wrote  in  his  paper  a  fortnight  or 
so  after  the  lecturing  had  begun: 

"Of  the  great  reformer  himself,  all  must  admit  that 
as  a  speaker  and  as  a  man  he  more  than  justifies  all 
our  preconceived  admiration.  His  genial  manner  and 
outspoken  democracy  take  the  hearts  of  all  true  Austra- 
lians by  storm;  and  his  infinite  variety  of  illustration, 
his  incisive  logic,  nnd  at  times  passionate  eloquence, 
stir  his  audience  to  laughter,  to  deep  thought,  or  to 
tears  almost  at  his  will.     ...     I  have  had  the  plea- 


532  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [isoo 

sure  of  hearing  all  his  metropolitan  utterances  and  al- 
most every  speech  delivered  in  the  country  districts, 
yet  out  of  thirteen  diiferent  orations,  in  no  case  was 
there  any  repetition  of  words  or  phrases,  although  in 
each  the  central  truth  was  portrayed  with  the  utmost 
clearness/' 

What  occurred  in  Sydney  was  repeated  in  all  the  lesser 
towns  of  New  South  Wales  in  which  Mr.  George  spoke, 
and  the  experiences  in  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales 
were  illustrations  of  what  took  place  in  the  other  colonies 
of  South  Australia,  Western  Australia,  Queensland  and 
Victoria.  Few  of  the  public  officials  appeared  in  Vic- 
toria; but  in  the  majority  of  places  in  the  other  colonies, 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  led  the  prominent  men  of  the 
respective  localities  to  tender  hospitalities,  one  accom- 
paniment of  which  in  a  number  of  places  was  the  presen- 
tation of  handsome,  illuminated  addresses.  At  Newcas- 
tle, N.  S.  W.,  Mr.  George  was  entertained  at  luncheon  by 
the  mayor  and  aldermen,  and  the  mayors  of  eight  or  nine 
small  neighbouring  towns  were  said  to  have  been  at  the 
board.  Lithgow,  a  New  South  Wales  mining  town, 
varied  things  somewhat  by  turning  out  with  a  brass  band 
and  a  torchlight  procession.  Nor  were  the  smaller  places 
to  be  ignored;  for  one  morning  the  train  on  which  the 
Georges  were  travelling  unexpectedly  stopped  at  a  way 
station.  The  breakfast  station  lay  beyond,  and  Mr. 
George,  who  always  was  impatient  for  breakfast,  put  his 
head  out  of  the  window  and  asked:  "What  in  heaven's 
name  are  we  stopping  here  for?"  "It  is  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen  who  have  obtained  permission  from  the  Com- 
missioners to  stop  the  train  for  ten  minutes  to  read  an 
address  to  Mr.  Henry  George,"  some  one  said.  And  the 
hungry,  informal  man,  who  hated  such  ceremonies,  had 
to  get  out  and  be  honoured. 


Age,  51]  PREMIER  OF  QUEENSLAND  533 

In  Queensland,  Sir  Samuel  Griffith,  formerly  Premier 
and  soon  again  to  hold  that  office,  was  among  the  first 
to  welcome  the  American.  But  South  Australia,  though 
small,  impressed  Mr.  George  as  being  perhaps  the  most 
advanced  of  the  colonies.  He  told  an  English  audience 
on  his  way  home  that  it  "led  the  world  in  the  single  tax 
policy."  "There,"  said  he,  "they  have  a  tax  imposed  on 
land  values,  irrespective  of  improvements;  and  they  have 
at  least  shown  the  practicability  of  such  a  tax.  The  tax 
imposed  is  only  one  half-penny  in  the  pound  on  the  capital 
value,  but  the  Government  is  proposing  to  increase  it 
upon  a  graduated  scale  to  twopence  in  the  pound." 

Almost  as  soon  as  he  set  foot  in  South  Australia,  Mr. 
George  made  the  acquaintance  of  Chief  Justice  Way, 
whose  high  standing,  intellectually  as  well  as  officially, 
in  the  colony  made  his  attendance  at  every  lecture  and 
speech  Mr.  George  delivered  in  Adelaide  a  compliment  that 
the  latter  did  not  fail  to  appreciate.  Another  man  who 
strongly  impressed  him  was  Kcv.  Hugh  Gilmore  of  Ade- 
laide, who  was  preaching  the  single  tax  faith  pure  and 
simple  in  the  face  of  hot  opposition  and  who  on  one  occa- 
sion exclaimed :  "By  God's  grace,  so  long  as  I  have  breath 
in  me,  no  man  shall  terrify  me."  Mr.  George  accounted 
him  to  be  a  man  of  large  personal  powers  and  wide  influ- 
ence— a  Dr.  McGlynn  of  South  Australia.  Among  the 
younger  single  taxers  in  the  colony  at  this  time  were 
Louis  H.  Berens  and  Ignatius  Singer,  who  together  sub- 
sequently wrote  "The  Story  of  My  Dictatorship" — a  re- 
markable little  work  of  fiction  depicting  political  and  social 
conditions  under  an  imagined  regime  of  the  single  tax 
and  which  came  to  be  extensively  read  in  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States. 

But  it  was  perhaps  in  Victoria  that  Mr.  George  achieved 
his  greatest  success  during  the  Australian  tour — Victoria, 


534  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [i890 

as  strong  in  the  faith  of  the  protection  principle  as  his 
own  native  State  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  said  in  Sydney 
that  no  matter  how  large  his  audiences  might  be  in  the 
other  colonies,  in  Melbourne  and  throughout  Victoria 
he  must  expect  slender  attention.  But  when  the  train 
on  which  the  Georges  travelled  drew  into  the  Melbourne 
station,  there  was  a  greater  gathering  than  usually 
came  to  greet  him,  and  a  reception  committee  headed  by 
Dr.  Maloney,  President  of  the  Land  Nationalisation  So- 
ciety. "Good  heavens!  another  rece^jtion!"  the  philoso- 
pher exclaimed  in  dismay  to  Mrs.  George,  and  explaining 
that  he  would  meet  her  at  the  hotel,  he  bolted  out  of  the 
door  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  coach.  When  she  recov- 
ered from  her  surprise,  Mrs.  George  likewise  tried  to  flee, 
but  she  was  too  late  and  was  escorted  by  the  committee 
with  much  politeness  to  a  carriage  in  waiting.  Presently 
Mr.  George  came,  also,  surrounded  by  an  immense  throng. 
He  had  been  recognised  and  was  compelled  to  endure  the 
honours. 

The  first  lecture  (on  the  single  tax)  was  delivered  in 
the  Town  Hall  to  a  fine  audience  in  numbers  and  char- 
acter. In  this  discourse  the  lecturer  drew  a  picture  of 
his  coming  to  Melbourne  thirty-five  years  before.  The 
second  lecture  was  to  working  men,  on  the  subject  of 
"Labour  and  the  Tariff."  Daniel  Cottier,  art  connois- 
seur, of  New  York  and  London,  with  whom  the  Georges 
had  become  acquainted  on  the  Mariposa,  called  upon  Mrs. 
George  before  this  second  lecture,  and  though  a  strong 
free  trader  himself,  earnestly  advised  her  to  influence  her 
husband  not  to  speak  on  that  subject  in  Victoria.  "The 
people  will  not  stand  it,"  he  said.  "They  think  protec- 
tion brings  them  their  bread  and  butter,  and  they  will 
stone  him  if  he  denounces  it."  Mrs.  George  replied  that 
Mr.  George  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  what  he  consid- 


Age,  51]  THE  MELBOURNE  TRIUMPH  535 

ered  to  be  his  duty,  even  if  she  wished  to  influence  him 
in  another  way,  which  she  did  not.  Mr.  Cottier  admired 
the  courage,  but  deprecated  the  wisdom  of  such  a  policy. 
The  City  Hall  was  crowded,  with  President  Hancock  of 
the  Trades  and  Labour  Council  in  the  chair.  Mr.  George 
lost  little  time  in  going  to  the  pith  of  his  subject. 

"I  am  a  free  trader — a  free  trader  absolutely.  I 
should  abolish  all  revenue  tariffs.  I  should  make  trade 
absolutely  free  between  Victoria  and  all  other  coun- 
tries. I  should  go  further  than  that;  I  should  abolish 
all  taxes  that  fall  upon  labour  and  capital — all  taxes 
that  fall  upon  the  products  of  human  industry,  or  any 
of  the  modes  of  human  industry.  How  then  should  I 
raise  needed  revenues?  I  should  raise  them  by  a  tax 
upon  land  values,  irrespective  of  improvements — a  tax 
that  would  fall  upon  the  holder  of  a  vacant  plot  of  land 
near  the  city  as  heavily  as  upon  like  land  upon  which 
a  hundred  cottages  stood." 


Thunders  of  applause  that  threatened  to  bring  down 
the  gallery  greeted  this  and  the  long  series  of  audacious 
free  trade  utterances  of  which  this  custom  house  abolisher 
made  up  his  address.  It  was  as  if  Melbourne  had  waited 
for  but  the  radical  word  to  bring  forth  an  extraordinary 
exhibition  of  clear  and  emphatic  dissent  from  the  policy 
which  hitherto  had  been  only  timidly  opposed.  Mr.  Cot- 
tier sat  in  the  audience  beside  Mrs.  George,  the  embodi- 
ment of  astonishment  and  delight;  and  he  was  almost 
past  words  when,  after  the  lecture,  three  cheers  were  given 
and  hundreds  of  men  in  the  audience  lingered  to  hand  in 
their  names  for  the  formation  of  a  free  trade  league — 
some  of  them  being  prominent  in  Melbourne.  All  the 
papers  gave  good  reports  and  the  Melbourne  "Telegraph" 
said: 


536  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i890 

"The  lecturer  very  adroitly  led  up  to  his  subject  of 
land  nationalisation  and  the  single  tax.  Imperceptibly, 
almost,  he  landed  his  hearers  in  the  midst  of  it,  through 
a  panegyric  of  Melbourne  city,  and  regrets  about  pov- 
erty, and  pleasant  jokes  and  amusing  anecdotes. 
Whether  the  lecture  was  carefully  prepared  in  writing- 
beforehand,  or  was  absolutely  extempore  is  not  ceriain; 
but  in  either  case  the  result  was  admirable.  Mr.  George 
must  possess  a  marvellous  memory;  or  equally  wonocr- 
ful  powers  of  extemporaneous  speech.  Every  sentence 
was  carefully  constructed  and  well  rounded  off;  every 
word  was  in  its  proper  place,  and  the  most  forcible  and 
expressive  word  was  used." 

At  a  subsequent  date,  Mr.  George  debated  the  tariff 
question  with  Mr.  W.  Trenwith,  M.P.,  who  was  put  for- 
ward as  representative  of  protectionist  working  men. 
The  meeting  occurred  in  Exhibition  Hall  before  a 
crowded  audience,  "which,"  said  Mr.  George  in  "The 
Standard"  (May  21),  "though  for  the  most  part  protec- 
tionist, gave  me  their  heartiest  applause  and  so  laughed 
at  Mr.  Trenwith's  alleged  facts  and  preposterous  asser- 
tions that  I  did  not  have  to  trouble  myself  to  reply  to 
them,  but  could  occupy  my  time  in  pressing  home  the 
general  principles,  which,  when  once  fairly  considered, 
will  destroy  the  protectionist  superstition  in  the  mind  of 
any  one  who  thinks  at  all." 

Although  he  sailed  for  home  from  Adelaide,  South  Aus- 
tralia, and  lectured  there  before  embarking,  the  formal 
close  of  the  Australian  lecture  campaign  took  place  in 
Sydney  a  few  days  before.  George  H.  Eeid,  M.P.,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Free  Trade  Association  and  subsequently  Pre- 
mier of  the  colony,  took  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  and  a  party 
of  their  friends  on  a  steam  yacht  excursion  over  the  fa- 
mously beautiful  bay.  Mayor  Burdekin  at  his  residence 
gave  a  dinner  in  honour  of  Mr.   George  at  which  were 


Age,  51]  FAREWELL  TO  AUSTRALIA  537 

present  all  the  members  of  the  Xew  South  Wales  Min- 
istry, except  the  Minister  of  Lands  and  the  Premier,  Sir 
Henry  Parks,  who  was  confined  by  an  accident.  Several 
ex-Ministers  and  other  leading  men  of  the  community 
were  also  present.  On  the  last  day  a  reception  was  held 
in  Temperance  Hall,  when  Mrs.  George  was  presented 
with  a  large  album  containing  photographs  of  Australian 
friends.  To  her  consternation  and  Mr.  George's  corre- 
sj)onding  merriment,  she  was  made  the  object  of  short  but 
formal  speeches,  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee  standing 
and  addressing  her  directly.  When  she  recovered  from 
her  first  surprise,  she  looked  towards  her  husband,  sitting 
close  beside  her.  He  winked,  and  presently  dropping  his 
handkerchief  to  the  fioor  said  as  he  reached  down,  just 
loud  enough  for  her  to  hear :  "How  do  you  like  it  ?" 

The  farewell  lecture  was  in  Protestant  Hall.  The  sub- 
ject was  "Protection  a  fallacy;  real  free  trade  a  neces- 
sity." Mr.  George  was  at  his  best  and  had  the  audience 
cheering  throughout  what  the  Sydney  "Telegraph"  called 
his  "splendid  deliverance."  The  men  who  called  them- 
selves free  traders,  but  who  had  been  afraid  of  what  he 
called  free  trade,  had  come  out  at  last,  and  President  Eeid 
of  the  Free  Trade  League  was  in  the  chair  and  paid  him 
this  high  tribute  on  behalf  of  Australia: 

"I  don't  think  we  should  allow  him  to  make  this  fare- 
well address  to  us  without  the  assurance  that  his  name, 
famous  in  so  many  lands,  has  now  become  in  Australia 
a  household  word.  (Cheers.)  The  teachings  of  his 
wonderful  books  have  already  created  a  host  of  enthu- 
siastic disciples  to  welcome  him  to  these  shores — 
(cheers) — and  even  I,  who  in  some  respects  cannot  call 
myself  one  of  his  disciples,  can  fully  understand  that 
enthusiasm.  (Cheers.)  He  has  thrice  earned  it.  He 
has  earned  it  as  a  thinker,  he  has  earned  it  as  a  writei 
and  he  has  earned  it  as  an  orator.     (Cheers.)     And  I 


538  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORaE  [i890 

venture  to  say — and  these  are  the  concluding  words  in 
which,  on  behalf  of  this  great  meeting,  I  bid  him  fare- 
well— that  he  may  and  probably  will  be  regarded  by 
posterity  as  one  of  those  leaders  of  men  who  rise  above 
the  sordid  level  of  things  as  they  are,  who  seek  to  revive 
the  spirit  and  the  power  of  Christianity,  who  seek  to 
enrich  the  human  intellect  with  humane  and  generous 
ideas,  who  create  in  the  minds  of  all  noble  ambition — 
new  spheres  of  philanthropy  and  justice — quickening 
the  world's  great  heart  with  the  throbbings  and  glad- 
ness of  the  time  to  come,  when  the  curse  of  toil  shall 
cease  from  troubling,  banished  forever  by  the  universal 
dignity  and  happiness  of  labour."  (Prolonged  cheer- 
ing-) 

There  were  mistakes — serious  mistakes — in  the  man- 
agement of  the  Australian  campaign  which  caused  Mr. 
George  much  round-about  travelling  and  loss  of  time. 
This  was  due  chiefly  to  unexpected  demands  from  scores 
of  places,  which  disarranged  the  plans.  It  is  probably 
safe  to  say  that  no  man  speaking  on  social  questions  had 
evei:  before  been  so  warmly  and  so  generally  greeted  on 
the  Island  Continent.  But  it  was  three  months  and  a 
half  of  hard  work  for  Henry  George,  speaking  every  night 
that  he  was  not  travelling,  save  one  Sunday,  and  fre- 
quently he  spoke  twice  a  day.  Letters  and  cables  came 
from  Sir  George  Grey  in  New  Zealand  and  from  the  Pre- 
mier and  Attorney-General  of  Tasmania  warmly  inviting 
him  to  each  of  these  places  but  he  was  tired  out  and  had 
to  refuse. 

Incidentally  to  his  long  exacting  occupation  he  had 
seen  much  to  interest  and  instruct  him.  At  Melbourne 
he  met  and  talked  briefly  with  Henry  Drummond;  at 
the  largest  cities  he  was  complimented  with  temporary 
membership  in  the  clubs,  and  at  Sydney  he  was  greatly 
amused  at  the  exploit  of  an  enthusiastic  single  taxer,  who. 


^ge_5i]  THROUGH  THE  BED  SEA  539 

thinking  that  the  American  visitor  ought  to  witness  an 
Australian  horse  race,  applied  to  a  racing  official  to  have 
Henry  George  made  an  honorary  member.  The  official 
asked  "Who  is  Henry  George — has  he  any  horses  ?"  "Yes," 
said  the  single  taxer ;  "  'Progress'  and  'Poverty' — and  they 
are  running  with  great  success  in  the  United  States !" 

The  changes  of  sea  and  sky  as  they  passed  over  the 
ocean's  great  expanse  were  the  travellers'  chief  matters  of 
observation  from  day  to  day  as  the  steamship  Valetta  car- 
ried them  north  and  eastward  towards  home.  Then  came 
India  with  its  tropical  scenes  and  the  passage  through 
the  Bed  Sea.  In  traversing  the  Gulf  of  Suez  they  skirted 
the  "barren  shore  of  the  peninsula  of  Sinai,  its  bare 
rugged  mountains  gleaming  in  the  fierce  sun,  presenting 
in  all  probability  precisely  the  same  appearance  that  they 
did  when  Moses  led  the  Israelites  along  their  base."  Pass- 
ing into  the  Mediterranean,  the  Georges  touched  at  the 
foot  of  Italy — Brindisi — where  they  disembarked  and 
made  a  short,  hurried  tour  through  Naples,  Pompeii  and 
Hercuianeum  to  Kome,  which  they  reached  in  the  worst 
possible  time  of  year,  all  who  could  having  fled  from  the 
heat  and  fear  of  fever.  Writing  to  his  art-loving  friend. 
Dr.  Taylor,  afterwards,  Mr.  George  said:  "You  would  get 
sick  of  old  masters.  We  had  a  good  time  in  our  own 
way,  unknown  and  unknowing,  and  working  our  way  by 
signs,  largely."  From  Pome  they  proceeded  to  Venice 
and  some  other  places,  and  thence  through  Switzerland 
and  France  to  Great  Britain,  where  Mr.  George,  during 
a  few  days'  sojourn,  made  two  speeches,  one  in  the  Glas- 
gow City  Hall  and  one  under  the  auspices  of  the  Kadical 
Association  of  Walworth,  London,  in  which  he  told  of  the 
great  progress  of  the  cause  at  the  antipodes. 

Accompanied  by  Eev.  J.  0.  S.  Huntington  of  New 
York,  Mr.  George  during  this  short  trip  called  upon  Gen- 


540  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [isoo 

eral  Booth  of  the  Salvation  Army,  whom  he  had  met  in 
London  six  years  before.  He  now  learned  that  Mrs. 
Booth,  who  had  large  influence  in  the  management  and 
spiritual  guidance  of  the  great  army  organisation,  had 
been  for  some  time  thinking  of  social  questions,  mainly 
along  single  tax  lines,  and  wished  to  initiate  a  policy 
which  should  preach  the  salvation  of  the  body  as  well  as 
of  the  soul — that  should  seek  to  better  material  condi- 
tions here,  while  holding  out  hope  of  a  life  hereafter. 
Mr.  George  came  away  from  this  visit  to  the  Booths  with 
sanguine  feelings  that  the  Salvation  Army  with  its  mili- 
tary organisation  radiating  from  London  all  over  the 
globe  would  soon  become  a  kind  of  world-wide  Anti- 
Poverty  Society,  that,  with  a  religious  enthusiasm,  would 
awaken  thought  and  make  way  for  the  single  tax  idea. 
But  Mrs.  Booth  even  then  was  stricken  with  an  incurable 
disease,  and  it  soon  after  carried  her  away.  With  her 
seemed  to  go  the  clearest  head  and  the  boldest  heart  in 
that  movement  for  a  social  reform  policy,  for  only  small 
steps,  and  those  along  the  lines  of  charity,  were  taken 
by  the  army;  and  Mr.  George  reluctantly  gave  up  hope 
that  the  organisation  would  do  anything  towards  the 
single  tax. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  arrived  in  New  York  harbour  on 
the  steamship  Servia  on  September  1,  in  time  to  take 
part  in  the  first  national  conference  of  single  tax  men, 
which  for  two  days  met  in  the  large  hall  of  Cooper  Union, 
where  the  delegates  exchanged  glad  tidings  and  discussed 
measures  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith.  It  was  an 
exultant  home-coming  to  him  who  since  January  had  made 
a  circle  of  the  globe,  everywhere  finding  men  and  women 
in  twos  or  threes,  in  tens  or  scores,  in  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands, holding  the  same  faith  and  glowing  with  the  same 
enthusiasm.     On  the  second  day  of  the  conference,  Sep- 


Age,  51]  STROKE  OF  APHASIA  541 

tember  2,  he  was  introduced  as  being  "fifty-one  years  old 
to-day."     He  said: 

"I  have  sat  on  this  platform  to-night  with  feelings 
of  joy  and  pride.  I  have  sat  on  this  platform  to-night 
with  heartfelt  thankfulness  to  God;  and  I  believe  that 
I  only  speak  your  voice,  fellow  single  taxers  of  New 
York,  when  I  say  that  the  samples  we  have  here  to- 
night of  the  single  tax  men  of  the  rest  of  the  Union 
have  nerved  us  and  inspired  us  and  given  us  more  hope 
for  the  future  than  anything  else  could.     (Applause.) 

"Yes;  it  is  my  birthday  to-day.  (Voice:  'Long  may 
you  live.'  Vociferous  applause.)  But  not  too  long. 
Life,  long  life  is  not  the  best  thing  to  wish  for  those 
3^ou  love.  Not  too  long;  but  that  in  my  day,  whether 
it  be  long  or  short,  I  may  do  my  duty,  and  do  my  best." 
(Applause.) 

A  consciousness  of  the  uncertainty  of  life  seemed  ever 
present  to  Henry  George,  and  suddenly  death  seemed  to 
come  close  to  him,  for  on  December  5,  on  returning  home 
from  a  little  informal  repast  with  some  friends,  he  was 
stricken  with  aphasia.  The  long  hard  trip  around  the 
world,  a  lecturing  trip  into  New  England,  then  a  longer 
one  into  the  Southwest  as  far  as  Texas,  and  following 
on  this,  worry  over  the  present  and  future  of  "The  Stand- 
ard," which,  while  not  paying,  was  an  embarrassment  to 
plans  he  had  for  other  work,  had  brought  the  climax. 

Dr.  James  E.  Kelly,  the  family  physician,  was  next 
morning  to  sail  to  Europe  on  professional  business,  but 
he  brought  in  Dr.  Frederick  Peterson,  a  young  brain-spe- 
cialist, and  himself  remained  until  within  an  hour  of  the 
ship's  sailing.     Dr.  Peterson  says  of  the  case: 

"Mr.  George  had  a  great  pain  on  the  left  side  of  his 
head,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  motor  speech  centre 
in  the  brain.     He  talked  quite  clearly,  but  used  wrong 


542  LIFE  OF  HENKY  GEORGE  [isoo 

words,  and  manufactured  words  at  times.  Shown  a 
watch  and  asked  what  it  was,  he  said :  'That  is  a  sep' ; 
shown  a  pencil :  'That  is  a  sep' ;  shown  a  thermometer 
he  said :  'That  is  a  sep,'  and  seemed  to  think  he  had  used 
the  correct  words.  He  repeated  words  very  well  and 
was  very  much  interested  in  asking  about  his  condition 
and  comprehended  clearly  the  form  of  aphasia  he  was 
suffering  from  and  the  nature  of  the  lesion.  He  ex- 
pressed great  anxiety  as  to  the  prognosis.  The  trouble 
was  a  slight  hemorrhage  in  the  particular  part  of  the 
brain  which  presides  over  articulate  speech.  He  im- 
proved very  rapidly;  his  mind  was  perfectly  clear  in 
every  way,  aside  from  the  difficulty  in  expressing  him- 
self. There  was  no  paralysis  of  any  kind.  In  three 
days  he  was  able  to  name  objects  correctly.  By  the 
first  of  January  the  whole  condition  had  been  recov- 
ered from." 

The  friends  showed  loving  attention,  John  Eussell 
Young  personally  calling  at  the  house  every  day,  and 
August  Lewis  and  Tom  L.  Johnson  establishing  a  benevo- 
lent joint  dictatorship  and  decreeing  that  as  soon  as  he 
should  be  strong  enough,  the  sick  man  and  Mrs.  George 
should  go  off  to  Bermuda  to  stay  there  beyond  the  reach 
of  all  anxiety  until  he  should  have  recuperated.  Mr. 
George  fell  in  with  the  plans  of  his  good  friends.  He 
sailed  early  in  the  new  year  with  Mrs.  George,  and  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simon  Mendelson,  parents  of 
Mrs.  August  Lewis.  He  was  well  enough  to  take  out- 
door exercise  and  to  do  a  little  simple  writing  before  he 
left,  and  among  other  things  he  made  a  brief  entry  on  the 
last  page  of  his  pocket  diary  for  1890 — "A  memorable 
year.     Much  to  be  thankful  for." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

PEESONAL    AND    DOMESTIC    MATTEES. 

1891-1897.  Age,  52-58. 

'  r  I IHE  invalid  is  quite  himself,  eating  and  sleeping  well, 
I  and  constantly  on  the  go,"  wrote  Mrs.  George  from 
Bermuda.  Mr.  George  took  the  exercise  of  a  young  man — 
walking,  driving  and  rowing;  and  a  young  single  taxer, 
William  E.  Hicks,  came  from  'New  York  with  a  bicycle 
expressly  to  teach  him  to  ride.  This  came  easily;  nor 
was  a  boy  ever  more  proud  of  a  physical  accomplishment 
than  was  Henry  George  of  this  achievement.  Regardless 
of  dusty  and  dishevelled  appearance,  he  would  come  in 
from  a  "spin,"  his  blue  eyes  shining  and  his  face  all 
aglow  with  pleasure.  All  his  children  learned  to  ride, 
and  later  became  his  frequent  wheeling  companions.  His 
wife  likewise  made  many  attempts  to  learn,  so  as  to  be 
with  him  in  this  as  in  other  things;  but  several  acci- 
dents warned  her  to  desist. 

The  wheel  brought  mental  as  well  as  physical  good  to 
Mr.  George,  for  it  proved  to  him  that  he  had  not  lost  ]iis 
active  powers;  and  up  to  a  short  time  of  his  death  he 
rode  with  keen  enjoyment,  getting  much  of  the  kind  of 
exhilaration  that  in  his  younger  manhood  had  come  from 
horseback  riding.  It  became  at  once  a  means  of  recrea- 
tion and  method  of  stirring  his  mind;  and  if  the  origin 

543 


544  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1S91-1897 

of  some  of  the  boldest  conceptions  and  loftiest  passages 
of  his  later  writings  could  be  traced,  it  might  be  found 
in  these  wheel  rides. 

This  was  Mr.  George's  second  mechanical  triumph,  his 
first  being  over  the  type-writing  machine,  which  he  began 
to  use  in  1884  and  continued  to  use  until  his  death. 
With  it  he  "blocked  out"  his  work,  and  one  of  his  sons 
or  daughters,  whoever  at  the  time  was  doing  amanuensis 
work  for  him,  used  another.  The  machine  in  1884  was 
unknown  in  some  parts  of  the  world,  and  a  correspondent 
in  Paraguay,  South  America,  inquired  how  he  could  afford 
to  have  his  letters  put  in  type  and  printed.  Mr.  George 
explained  that  he  used  a  little  mechanism  having  keys 
for  the  fingers  to  play  on  like  a  kind  of  piano. 

For  a  while  in  1891,  Mr.  George  tried  the  phonograph, 
endeavouring  to  record  dictations  and  have  his  amanuen- 
sis transcribe  at  leisiire.  But  he  could  not  habituate  him- 
self to  talking  into  the  inanimate  machine  and  he  suc- 
cumbed to  the  disconcerting  effects  that  almost  invariably 
attack  the  user  at  the  outset.  The  instrument  was  deliv- 
ered at  the  Nineteenth  Street  residence  one  afternoon 
when  Mr.  George  was  at  home  writing  and  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family  were  absent.  He  sat  down  at  once  to 
do  some  dictating,  but  could  not  induce  himself  to  take 
the  instrument  seriously.  He  could  treat  it  only  as  a  toy, 
and  accordingly  fell  to  playing  with  it.  Into  it  he  shouted 
a  sailor  song  of  his  boyhood  to  the  effect  that 

"Up  jumped  the  shark  with  his  crooked  teeth. 
Saying,  'I'll  cook  the  duff,  if  you'll  cook  the  beef';" 

and  then  another  song  about  a  winsome  bumboat  damsel, 
who,  saluted  by  the  admiral  of  the  fleet  in  terms  she  re- 
sented, answered 


Age,  52-58]  TEAITS  OF  CHARACTER  545 

"Kind  admiral,  you  be  damned!" 

This  last  line  was  roared  into  the  machine  in  a  hurricane 
voice  that  brought  the  wondering  and  dismayed  domes- 
tics running  up-stairs,  only  to  find,  when  they  peered  into 
the  room,  that  Mr.  George  was  alone,  seated  before  a 
little  table  and  singing  into  a  speaking  tube. 

During  the  stay  in  Bermuda  Mr.  Simon  Mendelson 
noted  some  conversations  in  promise  to  his  daughter,  who 
had  remained  in  New  York.     Among  the  notes  is  this: 

"Monday,  Februaiy  16,  1891. 

"In  the  evening  E.  [Mrs.  Mendelson]  said  to  Mr. 
George:  'You  ]3ut  abrupt  questions;  may  I  ask  you  a 
similar  one?" 

"G.  'Certainly.' 

"E.  'What  is  your  conception  of  God?' 

"G.  'Of  this  chair,  or  this  bag,  or  the  ship  out  there 
I  can  trace  the  genesis  to  man's  mind.  God  is  the 
Great  Mind,  the  essence  of  all  that  is  great  and  high.' 

"K.  'And  you  consider  Him  a  personal  God?' 

"G.  'Not  necessarily,  but  I  do  like  to  believe  Him 
such  and  do  believe  Him;  but  not  in  any  positive  shape 
or  form.'  " 

Louis  F.  Post  tells  how  one  day,  perhaps  a  year  after 
the  Bermuda  trip,  when  out  bicycling  with  Mr.  George 
and  riding  a  strange  wheel,  he  spoke  of  the  queer  fact 
that  one's  own  wheel  comes  to  seem  like  part  of  one's  own 
self.  J'hey  had  just  previously  conversed  about  the  spirit: 
Mr.  George  had  been  giving  reasons  for  belief  in  its  ex- 
istence. Upon  his  friend's  remark,  Mr.  George  asked  if 
he  saw  nothing  suggestive  in  that ;  if  he  could  not  discern 
an  analogy  between  the  relation  of  the  wheel  to  his  body 
and  of  his  body  to  his  spirit? 

At  another  time  while  riding  slowly  along  Fifth  Ave- 


546  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

nue,  New  York,  with  a  son  and  a  daughter,  he  observed 
an  undertakers  wagon  stop  before  a  residence,  and  two 
men  get  down  and  carry  up  armfuls  of  black  drapery. 
"None  of  that  when  1  am  dead,"  he  said  to  his  children. 
"Death  is  as  natural  as  life;  it  means  a  passage  into  an- 
other life.  If  a  man  has  lived  well — if  he  has  kept  the 
faith — it  should  be  a  time  for  rejoicing,  not  for  repining, 
that  the  struggle  here  is  over." 

Death  was  much  in  liis  thoughts  from  now  forward. 
"How  much  there  is  of  joy  and  sorrow  and  tragedy  in 
the  years  that  have  rolled  so  noiselessly  by  since  we  first 
knew  each  other !"  he  wrote  to  Judge  Coffey  of  Califor- 
nia; "and  now  we  are  what  we  then  thought  were  old 
men,  and  the  years  move  all  the  faster."  On  another 
occasion  he  wrote  to  Thomas  F.  Walker:  "I  have  long 
since  ceased  to  have  any  dread  of  death,  except  for  the 
shock  of  parting."  While  on  a  western  lecturing  trip  he 
wrote  to  Mrs.  George  concerning  the  death  of  a  fine  St. 
Bernard  dog  they  had  raised  from  a  pup :  "Poor  old  Thor  I 
I  cannot  help  feeling  so  sorry  for  him,  and  I  know  that 
you  all  must  miss  him  very  much.  But  we  cannot  tell. 
Perhaps  if  not  that,  something  worse  might  have  hap- 
pened. Even  in  a  dog,  though,  we  feel  the  mystery  of 
death.     Let  us  love  the  closer,  while  life  lasts." 

Staunch  as  a  rock  was  his  belief  in  immortality,  and 
many  of  his  friends  loved  to  talk  to  him  about  it,  even 
those  like  Louis  Prang  of  Boston  who  had  little  faith. 
"Do  you  think  we  shall  ever  meet  you  in  California 
again?"  asked  Mrs.  Francis  M.  Milne  of  San  Francisco, 
during  the  trip  around  the  world.  "I  don't  know,"  he 
answered;  "for  there  is  much  to  do.  But  if  not  here, 
then  hereafter."  Another  friend,  A.  Van  Dusen  of  New 
York,  questioned :  "What  do  you  regard  as  the  strongest" 
evidence  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul?"     The  answer 


Age,  52-58]  BELIEF  IN  IMMORTALITY  547 

was  prompt,  and  to  Mr.  Van  Dusen,  conclusive :  "The 
creation  of  human  beings  is  purposeless  if  this  is  all." 
Over  the  body  of  William  T.  Croasdale,  who  died  in  the 
single  tax  faith  in  August,  1891,  and  was  cremated,  Mr. 
George  in  a  funeral  address  said: 

"Ceased  to  be  ?  No ;  I  do  not  believe  it !  Cease  to 
be?  No;  only  to  our  senses  yet  encompassed  in  the 
flesh  that  he  has  shed.  For  our  hearts  bear  witness  to 
our  reason  that  that  which  stands  for  good  does  not 
cease  to  be.  .  .  .  The  changing  matter,  the  pass- 
ing energy  that  gave  to  this  body  its  form  are  even  now 
on  their  way  to  other  forms.  In  a  few  hours  there  will 
remain  to  our  sight  but  a  handful  of  ashes.  But  that 
which  we  instinctively  feel  as  more  than  matter  and 
more  than  energy;  that  which  in  thinking  of  our  friend 
to-day  we  cherish  as  best  and  highest — that  cannot  be 
lost.  If  there  be  in  the  world  order  and  purpose,  that 
still  lives." 

When  a  young  man,  troubled  in  mind,  raised  the  ques- 
tion of  whether  or  not  suicide  was  justifiable,  Mr.  George 
replied:  "Many  wise  men  among  the  ancients  thought  it 
was.  But  what  do  we  know  about  life;  and  what  do  we 
know  about  death?  We  are  here,  conscious  of  things  to 
do.  We  came  here  not  of  ourselves.  We  mvist  be  part 
of  a  plan.  We  have  work  to  perform.  If  we  refuse  to 
go  forward  with  the  work  here,  how  do  we  know  but  that 
it  shall  have  to  be  performed  elsewhere?" 

August  Lewis  had  on  Mr.  George's  setting  off  for  Ber- 
muda given  him  a  translation  of  Schopenhauer's  "World 
as  Will  and  Idea."  Mr.  George  found  it  absorbingly  in- 
teresting, but  "  'From  A  to  Izzard'  like  a  red  rag  to  a 
bull,"  for  the  German  philosopher  represented  that  hope- 
lessness of  things  earthly  and  a  negation  of  life  hereafter 
which  proved  a  direct  antithesis  to  George's  ever-strength- 


548  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

ening  hopefulness  and  faith.  With  all  that,  the  brilliant 
mind  of  the  great  German  exercised  its  fascination.  Eec- 
ognising  in  him  a  philosojiher  of  rare  originality  and 
astonishing  versatility,  Mr.  George  became  fond  of  con- 
sulting (or  rather  comparing)  his  views  on  the  most 
varied  topics.  And  he  seemed  to  derive  satisfaction  from 
the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  its  atheism,  the  underlying  prin- 
ciple of  Schopenhauer's  philosophy  was  spiritual  and  not 
material.^  Mr.  George  also  seemed  to  take  great  delight 
in  Schopenhauer's  well  known  outspokenness  against  the 
professors,  and  indeed  saw  in  the  way  that  Schopenhauer 
had  so  long  been  ignored  by  them,  a  case  analogous  to 
his  own.  Perhaps  many  passages  in  Mr.  George's  later 
works  bearing  on  this  subject  are  somewhat  to  be  ascribed 
to  this  influence.- 

Mr.  George's  views  of  the  essence  of  Christianity  he  set 
forth  in  his  published  writings.  His  beliefs  relative  to 
the  person  of  Christ  were,  he  said  one  day  in  the  last 
year  of  his  life  to  his  son  Henry,  most  nearly  represented 
by  a  short  sketch  written  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  entitled 
"Syllabus  of  an  estimate  of  the  merits  of  the  doctrines  of 
-Tesus,"^  from  which  he  quoted  in  "The  Science  of  Polit- 
ical Economy."* 

iSee  "A  Perplexed  Philosopher,"  Part  III,  Chapter  iii,  (Memorial 
Edition,  pp.  125-128). 

'  While  having  only  a  grammar  scliool  education,  Mr.  Lems'  tastes  and 
talents  had  always  led  him  to  spend  his  leisure  hours  in  the  study,  and 
capacious  and  well  filled  ibook'shelves  in  his  home  showed  the  choiceness 
and  range  of  his  reading.  On  questions  of  philosophy  he  was,  at  least  in 
later  years,  the  closest  of  Mr.  George's  friends  ;  and  as  to  the  Schopen- 
hauer philosophy,  they  had  frequent  conversations  subsequent  to  the 
1  lermuda  trip,  in  the  studio  'of  George  Brush,  to  whom  Mr.  George,  at 
Mr.  Lewis'  request,  sat  for  a  full-length  portrait. 

3"  The  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,"  collected  and  edited  by  Paul 
Leicester  Ford,  Putnam's  Sons,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  227. 

^  Book  II. ,  Chapter  ii. ,  p.  132. 


Age,  52-58]  TASTE   IN   LITERATURE  549 

To  take  another  view  of  Henry  George — here  is  a  fur- 
ther excerpt  from  the  Mendelson  Bermuda  notes : 

"Sunday  March  1,  1891. 
"Eead  Henry  IV.  aloud.  Mr.  George  thinks  it  highly 
superior  in  'every  way'  to  Coriolanus.  He  particularly 
enjoys  the  character  of  Falstaff.  Finds  no  attraction 
whatever  in  the  character  of  Coriolanus;  considers  him 
a  bad,  selfish  man  from  beginning  to  end;  and  more- 
over cannot  enjoy  or  approve  of  'a  piece  of  art  without 
a  high  purpose.'  Considers  this  business  of  war  in 
Henry  IV.  as  'poor  business.'  'The  Chinese  look  down 
on  soldiers.  And  is  that  valour?  A  big  man  ever  so 
heavily  armed  like  Douglas,  the  Scot,  slashes  the  un- 
armed soldiers  and  kills  and  crushes  them  by  his  mere 
weight.' " 

"Mr.  George  feels  not  the  necessity  of  talking  and 
of  giving  his  thoughts  to  others,  not  even  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  at  their  thoughts.  In  the  latter  case, 
he  prefers  asking  direct  questions  abruptly.  In  his 
talk  he  seldom  gets  animated  and  seldom  says  things 
of  a  higher  order.  When  he  does,  he  looks  very  absorbed 
in  his  subject  and  quite  handsome.     .     . 

"Though  of  deep  feeling,  he  does  not  feel  poetically. 
The  poetry  which  he  likes  is  not  of  the  divine  art,  but 
the  eloquence  of  feeling;  that  which  finds  its  strong 
echo  in  his  own  heart.     Of  art  per  se  he  has  no  notion. 

"His  mind  is  of  a  beautiful  caste — simple,  direct 
and  comprehensive." 

The  reading  of  Tennyson,  Whittier,  Swinburne,  Brown- 
ing, Longfellow,  Macaulay,  Buchanan  and  Arnold  to  him- 
self or  aloud  in  the  family  circle  showed  the  poetic  na- 
ture; and  the  frequent  word  of  encouragement  to  such 
rising  singers  as  Alice  Werner  of  London,  John  Farrell 
of  New  South  Wales  and  Frances  M.  Milne  of  California 
showed  the  listening  ear.     But  like  the  Psalms  to  Crom- 


550  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

well's  Ironsides,  the  poetry  that  spoke  most  strongly  to 
him  was  that  which  moved  with  the  intense  purpose  of 
his  soul.  For  verses  solely  of  sentiment  or  reflection,  no 
matter  how  fine  the  language  or  picturing,  his  feeling  was 
set  forth  in  a  note  to  Dr.  Taylor  (June  1,  1892)  :  "Thanks 
for  'The  Quiet  Wood.'  It  is  good,  but — why,  when  the 
great  struggle  is  on,  and  history  is  being  made,  will  you 
go  off  into  the  woods  and  play  the  flute?  I  should  rather 
see  you  put  your  lips  to  the  trumpet." 

Perhaps  it  may  be  well  to  add  some  lines  from  a  letter 
Mr.  George  wrote  subsequently  (April  32,  1893)  to  his 
actor  friend,  James  A.  Heme,  who  had  just  produced  a 
successfvil  play,  "Shore  Acres" : 

"I  left  Boston  with  the  spell  of  your  genius  upon  me, 
wishing  very  much  to  see  you  and  sorry  when  I  found 
I  could  not. 

"I  cannot  too  much  congratulate  you  upon  your  suc- 
cess. You  have  done  what  you  have  sought  to  do — 
made  a  play  pure  and  noble  that  people  will  come  to 
hear.  You  have  taken  the  strength  of  realism  and 
added  to  it  the  strength  that  comes  from  the  wider 
truth  that  realism  fails  to  see;  and  in  the  simple  por- 
trayal of  homely  life,  touched  a  universal  chord.  .  . 
In  the  solemnity  of  the  wonderfully  suggestive  close, 
the  veil  that  separates  us  from  heaven  seems  to  grow 
thin,  and  things  not  seen  to  be  felt. 

"But  who  save  you  can  bring  out  the  character  you 
have  created — a  character,  which  to  others,  as  to  me, 
must  have  recalled  the  tender  memory  of  some  sweet 
saint  of  God — for  such  loving  and  unselfish  souls  there 
have  been  and  are.  I  never  before  saw  acting  that  im- 
pressed me  so  much  as  yours  last  night.  I  did  not  feel 
like  talking  when  I  left  the  theatre;  but  I  wanted  to 
grasp  your  hand.  I  did  not  want  to  see  you  in  that 
wonderful  piece  of  acting  of  which  they  told  me,  where 
you  reduced  man  to  the  mere  animal.  I  am  glad  to 
have  seen  you  in  this,  where  the  angel  gleams  forth." 


Age,  52-58]  HAMLET   AND   MACBETH  551 

In  early  life  Eichard  III.  and  Hamlet  of  the  Shake- 
spearian plays  most  attracted  Mr.  George ;  hut  towards  the 
close  of  life  the  vaulting  ambition  pictured  in  Macbeth 
made  him  think  that  in  that  the  poet  had  reached  his 
supreme  conception.  He  himself,  who  had  come  out  of 
obscurity  and  won  intellectual  triumphs  such  as  no  man 
in  his  domain  of  thought  had  ever  before  so  quickly  won, 
was  keenly  conscious  of  the  dangers  of  ambition;  and  the 
poet's  impersonation  stood  forth  as  the  very  incarnation 
of  this  tremendous  human  passion. 

Eeflecting  upon  the  personality  of  Shakespeare  and 
history's  brief  account  of  him,  Mr.  George  once  in  con- 
versation with  his  elder  son  said:  "ISTo  man  can  do  great 
writing  without  being  conscious  that  it  is  great.  But  the 
great  man  is  a  modest  man,  and  may  be  careless  of  his 
fame  further  than  his  achievements  will  speak  for  him. 
England's  greatest  poet,  like  the  great  poet  whose  mem- 
ory Scotland  reveres  to-day.  Burns,  was  contented,  after 
doing  his  work,  to  live  in  retirement;  feeling  probably 
that  'not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments  of  princes' 
would  outlive  his  'powerful  rhyme.' " 

But  always  in  comparing  man  with  man,  there  entered 
the  relation  of  proportion.  In  answer  to  a  question  put 
by  one  of  his  family  he  said:  "Napoleon's  mind  at  his 
downfall  was  in  no  worse  plight  than  that  of  the  poor 
devil  who  cannot  make  or  borrow  ten  dollars  is  relatively 
to  the  things  that  enter  into  his  life."  Edward  McHugh 
tells  how,  being  out  for  a  stroll  with  Mr.  George  at  Fort 
Hamilton,  they  dropped  into  the  branch  post  office.  There 
they  met  a  man  who  wished  to  send  away  some  money, 
but  did  not  know  how  to  fill  out  the  official  order.  Mr. 
George  did  it  for  him.  "It  is  not  every  day  that  such  a 
man  can  have  a  philosopher  to  write  for  him,"  said  Mr. 
McHugh  when  the  stroll  was  resumed.     "A  philosopher," 


552  LIFE   OF   HENEY   GEORGE  [1891-1807 

was  the  reply,  "is  no  better  than  a  bootblack.     Such  terms 
are  only  relative  to  our  own  small  affairs.'' 

As  President  Lincoln  modestly  said  he  would  hold  Mc- 
Clellan's  horse  if  that  would  help  the  general  win  the 
country  a  battle,  so  Henry  George  always  refrained  from 
assuming  leadership.  It  was  never  "ni}^  2)rinciples,"  "my 
movement,"  '"my  cause";  but  always  "our  principles," 
"our  movement,"  "our  cause."  To  Dr.  Taylor  he  wrote 
(April  28,  1891)  :  "How  persistent  is  the  manner  in  which 
the  professors  and  those  who  esteem  themselves  the  learned 
class  ignore  and  slur  me;  but  I  am  not  conscious  of  any 
other  feeling  about  it  than  that  of  a  certain  curiosity." 
This  was  not  assumed  humility.  He  spoke  in  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  nature — a  simplicity  that  shone  out  in  his 
private  life,  as  witness  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  George,  during 
the  summer  of  1893  : 

"I  slept  at  home  last  night.  Post  wanted  me  to  go 
down  with  him,  but  I  thought  I  should  prefer  to  sleep 
here,  I  had  unfortunately  drank  two  glasses  of  iced  tea 
at  supper  (which  I  took  with  Post  and  the  Hibbards) 
and  owing  I  suppose  to  that,  I  did  not  get  to  sleep  till 
after  two.  But  the  house  was  delightfully  cool,  and  I 
slept  until  after  nine,  then  took  a  bath,  and  for  fifteen 
cents  got  two  cups  of  coffee  and  all  I  wanted  to  eat  at 
the  little  bakery  on  Twentieth  Street  and  Second  Ave- 
nue. Then  I  came  back  to  the  house,  where  I  have 
been  waiting  for  the  carpets  to  come,  having  sent  yes- 
terday a  notice  that  I  should  be  here  between  10  and 
12  to-day." 

As  with  many  famous  men,  money  matters  gave  Mr. 
George  much  worry.  Very  little  money  would  put  him 
at  his  ease,  although  ko  get  it  he  was  often  put  to  borrow- 
ing. But  unlike  many  celebrities,  borrowed  money  with 
him  was  always  a  sacred  debt,  and  he  never  failed  to  re- 


Age,  52-58]  AN  ARDENT   CHAIEMAN  553 

turn  a  loan  punctually,  if  a  time  had  been  set;  borrowing 
elsewhere,  if  he  could  meet  the  payment  in  no  other  way. 
One  of  his  last  acts  before  leaving  New  York  in  1890  for 
the  trip  around  the  world  was  to  send  a  check  to  John 
Eussell  Young  in  final  settlement  of  loans  that  enabled 
the  philosopher  to  leave  California  in  1880  and  helped 
to  sustain  him  until  he  got  his  start  in  New  Y^ork. 

Personal  homage  in  every  form  Henry  George  treated 
with  disfavour.  "I  do  not  like  your  over-praise,"'  he 
wrote  to  Mrs.  Milne,  who  sent  him  greetings  on  his 
return  to  New  Y'ork  from  around  the  world.  "If  my 
words  have  spoken  to  your  heart,  it  was  because  they 
came  from  my  own;  and  though  we  may  like  to  be  praised 
for  the  little  things,  we  do  not  for  the  big  things."  Once 
when  an  enthusiastic  young  chairman  at  a  large  meeting 
in  Harlem,  New  York  City,  was  making  an  earnest  and 
sincere  but  very  flattering  speech  in  introducing  Mr. 
George,  the  latter  wriggled  and  writhed  as  though  his 
character  was  being  aspersed,  instead  of  praised.  Unable 
to  bear  it  longer,  he  suddenly  leaned  forward  and  poked 
the  chairman  in  the  back  with  a  walking-stick  he  had 
found  beside  him.  The  chairman,  in  a  flood  of  bellow- 
ing eloquence,  chopped  off  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  looked 
behind  him,  had  a  whispered  conference  with  the  philoso- 
pher, turned  back  to  the  audience,  and  said  quietly :  "Mr. 
George  don't  want  me  to  get  the  rest  of  that  off";  which 
tickled  the  assemblage  into  spasms  of  laughter. 

The  dislike  of  his  younger  manhood  to  social  forms 
Mr.  George  never  conquered.  He  could  not  endure  the 
accompanying  vapid,  small  talk.  Moreover,  he  found  the 
necessity  of  giving  special  attention  to  his  raiment  par- 
ticularly irksome,  a  dress  coat  and  its  adjuncts  amount- 
ing to  an  affliction;  but  he  nevertheless  tried  to  bear  these 
ills  with  tranquillity,  because  as  he  reasoned,  to  conform 


554  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

to  the  small,  polite  usages  tended  to  disarm  antagonism  to 
his  crusade  against  giant  wrongs  in  the  vast  bod}^  politic 
and  body  social.  Yet  a  preoccupied  mind  often  inter- 
fered with  the  carrying  out  of  his  good  intentions,  as  for 
instance,  he  appeared  at  a  recej^tion  at  his  home  in  Nine- 
teenth Street  with  the  studs  of  his  shirt  bosom  wrong 
side  out,  the  ladies  of  the  family  being  busy  with  the 
guests.  At  a  later  period,  when  residing  at  suburban  Fort 
Hamilton,  he  spent  a  whole  day  in  the  business  portion  of 
New  York  and  the  night  at  the  somewhat  formal  Hotel 
Waldorf  wath  Tom  L.  Johnson  without  discovering  that 
he  had  been  going  about  with  very  dusty  boots.  But  he 
made  amends  by  having  them  polished  before  starting 
back  for  Fort  Hamilton. 

This  carelessness  about  dress  led  to  many  minor  adven- 
tures, one  of  which  was  in  a  sleeping-car,  of  which  Mr. 
George  was  the  sole  occupant.  The  colored  porter,  whose 
livelihood  largely  depended  uj)on  fees  from  passengers, 
lamented  to  him  the  "po'ness  of  business."  He  made  out 
such  a  deplorable  case  that  Mr.  George  was  inspired  to 
surprise  him  with  a  large  tip,  mentally  resolving  to  give 
him  all  the  change  in  his  pocket.  This  proved  to  be  much 
more  than  Mr.  George  expected  and  four  or  five  times 
the  customary  fee,  but  he  offered  it  nevertheless. 

"Dat  all  fo'  me?"  exclaimed  the  man  incredulously, 
looking  from  the  money  to  Mr.  George's  not  over-fas- 
tidious clothes,  and  then  back  to  the  money.  And  when 
Mr.  George  assured  him  that  all  the  money  was  for  him, 
the  porter  accepted  it  with  a  burst  of  thanks,  adding: 
"1  of 'en  heard  it  said,  but  I  never  would  believe  it;  yo' 
never  can  tell  about  a  frog  until  yo'  see  him  jump !" 

Forgetfulness  from  preoccupation  brought  many  petty 
losses.  Once  on  a  lecturing  trip,  Avith  mock  gravity  he 
upbraided  his  wife,  who  travelled  some  of  the  way  with 


Age,  52-58]  HABIT   OF   PREOCCUPATION  555 

him,  for  forgetting  her  umbrella  at  one  of  the  stops. 
"And  what  have  you  to  report,  sir?"  she  retorted.  A 
smile  swept  his  gravity  aside.  "Only  that  I  left  my  night 
apparel  in  one  place,  my  tooth  brush  at  another  and  my 
overshoes  with  the  Governor  of  Missouri."  Half  an  hour 
later  he  might  have  added  the  loss  of  his  watch,  which 
he  left  in  a  hotel  at  the  first  stopping  place,  though  this 
was  speedily  recovered.  So  common  were  losses  of  this 
kind  with  him  that  he  was  positively  relieved  when  he 
found  that  other  members  of  the  family  could  lose  things, 
too.  Returning  with  one  of  his  sons  from  a  Western 
journey,  he  saluted  Mrs.  George  on  reaching  home  with: 
"I  can  see  that  your  children  grow  more  like  you  every 
day."  "In  what  way  ?"  asked  Mrs.  George.  "Why,  in  los- 
ing things.  Your  son  here  lost  our  tickets  from  St.  Louis 
back  to  New  York."  Neither  Mrs.  George  nor  the  son 
saw  much  in  the  loss  of  two  one-thousand-mile  tickets  to 
smile  at,  but  to  Mr.  George  the  incident  had  something 
of  humour,  because,  while  the  tickets  were  lost,  he  him- 
self was  not  this  time  the  culprit. 

Abstraction  not  uncommonly  carried  him  into  a  wrong 
street,  took  him  to  a  wrong  house  and  gave  a  wrong  di- 
rection to  a  letter,  but  perhaps  his  most  surprising  ex- 
perience was  while  travelling  with  one  of  his  sons  in  a 
sleeping-car  from  Cincinnati  to  Cleveland,  Ohio.  They 
went  to  bed  in  opposite,  lower  berths.  Unable  to  sleep 
part  of  the  niglil,  Mr.  George  arose,  put  on  some  of  his 
clothes,  went  to  the  smoking  section  and  enjoyed  a  cigar. 
Drowsiness  at  length  creeping  upon  him,  he  returned  to 
bed  and  slept  until  the  breakfast  call  of  the  porter  awoke 
him  in  the  morning.  Reaching  across  the  passageway, 
he  gave  the  curtains  of  the  berth  opposite  a  vigorous  shake, 
calling  out:  "Do  you  hear  the  joyful  cry?"  But  instead 
of  his  son's  voice,  a  feminine  voice  replied:  "I  think  you 


556  LIFE   OP   HENRY   GEORGE  [1891-1897 

have  made  some  mistake."'  Mr.  George  drew  back  in 
confusion.  He  looked  about  him  to  get  his  "bearings/' 
only  to  find  that  on  returning  from  his  smoke  during  the 
night,  he  had  taken  the  berth  that  some  one  else  had  ap- 
parently vacated,  and  so  had  finished  his  night's  sleep  in 
wrong  quarters. 

It  has  been  said  that  Mr.  George  dreaded  social  occa- 
sions. Yet  there  were  gatherings  of  a  social  nature 
which  he  really  enjoyed  attending.  These  were  little  pri- 
vate dinners  that  John  Eussell  Young  gave,  sometimes  at 
the  Astor  House  in  New  York  and  sometimes  at  the 
Union  League  in  Philadelphia.  At  one  or  the  other  of 
these  dinners  he  met  John  Mackay,  William  Florence, 
Joseph  Jefferson,  General  Sherman,  Colonel  Alexander 
McClure,  Murat  Halstead,  Judge  Roger  A.  Pryor,  Chaun- 
cey  M.  Depew  and  Grover  Cleveland.  He  had  never  be- 
fore met  the  ex-President,  and  was  much  pleased  with 
him,  believing  from  what  fell  in  conversation,  that  if  re- 
nominated for  the  Presidency  in  1892,  Cleveland  would 
make  a  radical  fight. 

John  Eussell  Young,  though  he  was  always  a  strict  party 
Republican,  was  at  heart  a  radical — an  absolute  free  trader 
and  a  good  deal  of  a  single  taxer.  But  though  he  talked 
unreservedly  in  private,  his  public  utterances  were  veiled, 
one  of  his  signed  newspaper  articles  drawing  out  this 
message  from  his  downright  friend,  George : 

"I  don't  like  your  "Press"  article.  ...  I  have 
some  question  whether  the  ordinary  reader  will  know 
whether  you  are  for  Blaine  or  Harrison,  and  I  fear  that 
your  delicate  damnation  of  the  tariff  will  in  many 
cases  be  deemed  by  him  an  indorsement.  The  fine  in- 
ferences by  which  skilled  diplomatists  may  convey  their 
meaning  to  one  another  will  not  be  understood  in  a 
town  meeting." 


Age,  52-58]  SINGULAR  JUDGMENT  557 

Henry  George's  judgment  had  to  most  of  his  friends  a 
very  singular  quality.  Of  this  Louis  F.  Post  speaks,  hav- 
ing many  occasions,  both  public  and  private,  for  putting 
his  impressions  to  the  test: 

"There  was  something  unique  about  Mr.  George's 
judgment.  It  was  not  intuitive,  and  yet  it  seemed  at 
times  to  be  infallibly  so.  I  say  it  was  not  intuitive, 
because  I  never  knew  it  to  be  of  the  slightest  value, 
except  when  his  intellect  was  aroused  by  a  sense  of 
responsibility ;  and  then  it  was  startling  in  its  directness 
and  accuracy.  I  have  often  said  that  if  Henry  George 
told  me  how  best  to  go  to  Europe,  and  did  so  without 
a  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  matter,  I  should  go  the 
other  way;  but  that  if  he  acted  under  a  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility, I  should  follow  his  directions  blindfold 
without  a  question  or  doubt." 

An  instance  of  the  highly  practical  cast  of  Mr.  George's 
mind  when  responsibility  concentrated  his  faculties  was 
given  in  1893,  when  a  general  financial  stringenc}''  was 
squeezing  the  banks  of  the  country,  and  crippling  and 
destroying  strong  and  weak  industrial  enterprises.  The 
large  steel  rail  manufacturing  company  named  after  Tom 
L.  Johnson,  and  located  at  Johnstown,  Pa.,  Avas  soon 
brought  face  to  face  with  this  problem.  The  president 
of  the  company,  Arthur  J.  Moxham,  had  come  into  the 
single  tax  faith  soon  after  Mr.  Johnson's  conversion  in 
the  middle  eighties.  His  strength  of  character  and  high 
executive  ability  were  attested  by  the  people  of  Johns- 
town when  the  never-to-be-forgotten  flood  lay  the  centre 
of  the  city  in  ruins,  killed  thirty-six  hundred  persons, 
and  sweeping  away  all  established  authority  and  order, 
gave  place  to  horror,  terror  and  frantic  confusion.  In 
that  time  of  disaster  Mr.  ]\Ioxham  was  made  dictator, 
with  life  and  death  powers;  and  for  three  days  he  held 


558  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

that  extraordinary  office.  Mr.  George  hai^pened  to  visit 
Johnstown  and  Mr.  Moxham  in  1893,  at  the  moment  when 
the  financial  stringency  had  brought  the  affairs  of  the 
Johnson  Company  to  a  crisis.  He  was  told  by  Mr.  Mox- 
ham that  no  course  seemed  to  be  left  but  to  shut  down, 
for  while  he  could  get  plenty  of  orders  for  rails,  he  could 
get  no  money  in  payment.  Whereupon  Mr.  George  sug- 
gested that  the  bonds  of  the  street  railroad  companies  or- 
dering rails  should  be  taken  in  payment  of  their  orders; 
and  that  certificates  to  be  used  as  money  be  issued  against 
them.  Mr.  Moxham  took  the  idea  and  developed  a  plan, 
calling  a  meeting  of  his  employees,  explained  to  them  the 
proposal  to  take  steel  railroad  bonds,  place  them  in  the 
hands  of  a  trustee  mutually  acceptable  to  the  company 
and  its  men,  and  against  these  bonds  to  issue  certificates 
in  small  denominations  with  which  to  pay  salaries  and 
wages  by  the  Johnson  Company.  The  employees  gladly 
accepted  the  proposal  and  appointed  a  committee  to  act 
for  them,  and  the  plan  was  put  into  execution,  one-third 
of  all  salaries  and  wages  being  paid  in  currency  and  the 
other  two-thirds  in  these  bond  certificates.  The  store- 
keepers and  other  townspeople  accepted  the  certificates  as 
readily  as  money;  and  the  company,  with  its  several  thou- 
sand employees,  passed  through  the  "tight"  period  with- 
out further  trouble.  Indeed,  the  earnings  of  the  em- 
ployees were  greater  at  this  time  than  at  any  other  period 
in  the  history  of  the  company.  Subsequently  every  one 
of  the  certificates  was  drawn  in  and  redeemed.  Mr. 
George  regarded  this  as  an  illustration  of  what  the  United 
States  Government  could  do  to  clear  up  the  currency 
difficulties — issue  from  its  own  treasury  a  paper  currency, 
based  upon  its  credit  and  interchangeable  with  its  bonds. 
Mr.  George  lived  in  the  Nineteenth  Street  house.  New 
York,  until  the  spring  of  1895,  when  the  family  stored  the 


^  3^ 


Age,  52-08]  HOME  AT   FORT   HAMILTON  559 

furniture  and  M^ent  to  Merriewold  Park — a  little  unpre- 
tentious, woodland  resort  in  the  hills  of  Sullivan  County, 
New  York  State,  where  some  single  taxers  had  built  a 
few  houses  and  had  commenced  to  go  each  summer  as 
early  as  1889.  In  the  fall  of  1895  the  Georges  came 
down  from  Merriewold  and  occupied  a  house  at  Fort 
Hamilton,  Long  Island,  which  had  probably  been  stand- 
ing there  thirty  or  forty  years  when  Henry  George,  as  a 
boy,  had  sailed  out  of  the  harbour  past  it  on  the  ship 
Hindoo,  bound  for  Australia  and  India.  It  stood  on  the 
bluffs  at  the  "Narrows,"  between  the  inner  and  outer 
bays.  The  house  belonged  to  Tom  L.  Johnson,  who,  with 
his  father,  had  bought  considerable  land  there  with  a 
view  to  making  themselves  summer  homes.  "In  the  mov- 
ing and  arranging,"  Mr.  George  wrote  to  his  friend,  "I 
have  not  been  able  to  get  fairly  to  work,  but  shall  to- 
morrow, and  thanks  to  you,  in  the  most  comfortable  quar- 
ters I  have  ever  worked  in  since  'Progress  and  Poverty' 
was  written." 

The  first  marriage  among  the  children  had  occurred  in 
1888;  the  second  son,  Richard,  having  wedded  Mary  E. 
Robinson  of  Brooklyn;  and  to  this  couple  several  children 
had  been  born.  Another  marriage  came  in  the  spring 
of  1895,  Jennie,  the  third  child  and  first  daughter,  being 
united  to  William  J.  Atkinson  of  New  York.  The  good 
friend  in  the  cause.  Rev.  James  0.  S.  Huntington,  had 
performed  the  first  marriage  ceremony  in  a  little  Episco- 
pal Church  in  Brooklyn.  Dr.  McGlynn,  who  had  now 
been  restored  to  his  priestly  offices  in  the  Catholic  Church, 
performed  the  second  marriage  at  the  George  residence 
on  Nineteenth  Street. 

Up  to  the  Doctor's  reinstatement  in  December,  1892, 
Edward  McGlynn  and  Henry  George  had  had  no  written 
communication  since  their  separation  during  the  presi- 


560  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1897 

dential  campaign  of  1888  and  had  met  only  casually. 
The  clergyman,  while  living  the  exemplary  life  of  a  priest, 
just  as  though  exercising  his  full  office,  had  meanwhile, 
with  unabating  persistence,  preached  the  single  tax  faith 
at  his  Anti-Poverty  meetings  in  N"ew  York  and  in  lec- 
tures in  many  other  cities.  At  length  the  wise  men  of 
the  Church  concluded  that  justice  required  a  reconsidera- 
tion of  the  case.  Many  have  thought  that  the  reply  that 
Henry  George  made  to  the  papal  encyclical  in  1891,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  later,  had  influenced  the  broad- 
minded  Leo  XIII.  to  review  the  case.^  This  may  have 
been  a  contributing  cause.  When  the  Pope  sent  Arch- 
bishop Satolli  to  this  country  as  his  representative.  Rev. 
Dr.  Burtsell  called  upon  him  to  suggest  a  reversal  of  the 
act  of  excommunication.  Archbishop  Satolli,  evidently 
following  instructions  of  the  Pope,  suggested  that  Dr. 
McGlynn  should  present  to  him  a  full  explanation  of  his 
doctrine  on  the  land  question.  Dr.  Burtsell  first  pre- 
sented an  exposition  of  the  doctrine,  which  Dr.  McGlynn 
indorsed  as  clear  and  accurate.  Later  Dr.  McGlynn  pre- 
sented his  own  statement  of  his  teachings.  It  was  direct 
and  explicit,  without  extenuation,  just  as  he  had  been 
teaching  it  from  the  beginning.  These  written  state- 
ments were  carefully  considered  by  a  committee  of  the 
professors  of  the  Catholic  University  in  Washington,  who 
declared  that  they  contained  nothing  contrary  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Catholic  Church.  These  professors  were  the 
Eevs.  Thomas  Bouquillon,  D.D.  (Dean  of  the  Theological 
Faculty),    Thomas    O'Gorman,    D.D.     (since    appointed 

1  To  Rev.  Thomas  Dawson,  then  of  London,  Mr.  George  wrote  (Decem- 
ber 23,  1892) :  "I  have  for  some  time  believed  Leo  XIIL  to  be  a  very 
great  man.  .  .  .  Whether  he  ever  read  my  '  Open  Letter '  I  cannot 
tell,  but  he  has  been  acting  as  though  he  had  not  only  read  it,  but  had 
recognised  its  force." 


Age,  52-58]  DR.  McGLYNN  EESTORED  561 

Bishop  of  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.),  Thomas  J.  Shahan,  D.D., 
and  Charles  Grannan,  D.D.  Dr.  McGlynn  subsequently 
made  a  profession  of  his  adhesion  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Apostolic  See,  and  in  general  terms  he 
recalled  any  word  that  may  have  escaped  him  not  in  con- 
formity with  the  respect  due  to  the  Holy  See.  The  papal 
representative  suggested  that,  as  Dr.  McGlynn  had  not 
been  able  to  join  with  the  clergy  in  the  regular  annual 
retreat,  he  should  go  on  retreat  preparatory  to  reinstate- 
ment; but  when  he  was  made  to  realise  that  this  was 
likely  to  be  construed  as  a  punishment,  the  ablegate  re- 
frained from  urging  it,  and  left  the  matter  to  Dr.  Mc- 
Glynn's  judgment.  The  latter  expressly  stipulated  that 
he  should  be  free  to  continue  to  expound  the  single  tax 
as  long  as  he  thought  proper,  to  the  Anti-Poverty  Society 
or  any  gathering,  at  Cooper  Union  or  elsewhere.  With 
these  things  clearly  understood,  Dr.  McGlynn  gave  his 
word  to  Archbishop  Satolli  to  present  himself  to  the 
Pope  within  three  or  four  months  to  obtain  his  blessing. 
Then  Archbishop  Satolli  in  formal  words,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  Pope,  removed  the  ban  of  excommunication 
from  Dr.  McGlynn,  and  the  first  announcement  of  the 
Doctor's  reinstatement  was  made  by  the  papal  represen- 
tative from  the  Catholic  University  at  Washington. 

The  next  day,  Christmas  day,  1892,  for  the  first  time 
since  1887,  Dr.  McGlynn  celebrated  mass.^  In  the  even- 
ing he  addressed  the  Anti-Poverty  Society  as  usual.     It 

1  By  his  own  wish,  Dr.  McGlynn  at  the  time  of  his  restoration  was  not 
attached  to  any  parish  ;  and  it  was  not  nntil  December,  1894,  two  years 
later,  that,  on  the  advice  of  Archbishop  Satolli,  he  applied  for  a  parish  to 
Archbishop  Corrigan  [of  the  (Diocese  of  New  York.  The  latter  had,  as 
Mr.  George  wrote  to  a  friend,  been  "  completely  flabbergasted  "  by  the  res- 
toration and  the  refusal  of  the  Roman  authorities  longer  to  uphold  the 
New  York  Archbishop  in  his  declaration  that  the  single  tax  doctrine  was 
contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Church.     But  Archbishop  Corrigan  made 


562  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-18'J7 

was  a  time  with  him  for  great  rejoicing.  He  had  made 
the  long  fight  and  had  triumphed.  The  odds  had  been 
tremendous,  but  he  had  overcome  them.  Never  again 
could  any  man  say  that  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic 
Church  were  opposed  to  the  single  tax.  And  he  cele- 
brated mass  with  a  thankfulness  that  he  had  been  given 
the  strength  to  fight  the  great  battle.  He  went  to  Eome 
some  months  afterwards  and  was  accorded  an  interview 
by  the  Pope.  The  reference  to  the  social  question  was  of 
the  briefest  description.  "Do  you  teach  against  private 
property?"  asked  his  Holiness.  "I  do  not;  I  am  staunch 
for  private  property,"  said  the  Doctor.  "I  thought  so," 
said  his  Holiness,  and  he  conferred  his  blessing. 

When  Henry  George  heard  of  Dr.  McGlynn's  restora- 
tion, his  own  rejoicing  swept  all  other  considerations 
aside.  He  at  once  sent  a  telegram:  "My  wife  and  I  send 
heartfelt  congratulations."  Sentiments  of  warm  feeling 
were  returned,  and  thus  the  relations  of  friendship,  inter- 
rupted for  four  years,  were  re-established;  and  they  lasted 
until  death. 

the  best  of  his  utter  defeat.  He  quietly  assigned  Dr.  McGlynii  to  tlie 
parish  of  St.  Mary,  in  the  little  town  of  Newburgh,  on  the  Hudson  River, 
close  to  Rondont,  where  Dr.  Burtsell  had  been  sent.  Archbishop  Corri- 
gan  at  the  same  time  engaged  to  give  to  him  the  first  vacant  parish  in 
New  York  City  that  would  be  suitable  to  Dr.  McGlynn's  talents. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   LAST    BOOKS. 

1891-1896.  Age,  52-57. 

IT  was  in  April,  soon  after  the  return  from  Bermuda, 
fully  restored  to  health  and  vigour,  that  Mr.  George 
wrote  to  Dr.  Taylor :  "During  the  last  week  I  have  got  to 
work  on  the  'Political  Economy'  I  have  long  contemplated, 
and  if  my  health  continues  good  I  shall  keep  at  it.  I 
have  thought  that  perhaps  it  would  be  useful  if  I  could 
put  the  ideas  embodied  in  'Progress  and  Poverty'  in  the 
setting  of  a  complete  economic  treatise  and  without  con- 
troversy." 

This  was  the  "primer"  that  he  had  mentioned  to  Charles 
ISTordhoif  before  leaving  California  in  1879.  In  answer 
to  the  pressing  calls  of  Richard  McGhee  and  other  British 
friends,  who  believed  they  could  get  such  a  book  into  some 
of  the  schools  there,  he  planned  in  the  summer  of  1889  to 
go  straight  at  it  and  to  publish  by  the  fall.  But  other 
things  crowded  in  to  exclude  this.  Now,  however,  when  he 
returned  from  Bermuda,  August  Lewis  and  Tom  L.  John- 
son confirmed  his  judgment  that  he  should  withdraw 
altogether  from  "The  Standard."  And  to  this  end  they 
voluntarily,  and  "without  suggestion  or  thought"  from 
him,  assured  him  that  they  would  regard  it  as  their  best 
contribution  to  the  cause  to  be  allowed  for  a  season  to 

563 


564  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1891-1896 

make  him  independent,  so  that  he  might,  if  he  judged 
that  to  be  best,  devote  himself  to  book-writing,  such  as 
only  he  was  qualified  to  do.  Subsequently  dedicating 
"The  Science  of  Political  Economy"  to  his  two  friends, 
he  made  open  acknowledgment  of  this  in  the  inscription. 

But  almost  at  the  outset  of  work  on  the  proposed  primer 
Mr.  George  realised  the  difficulty  of  making  a  simple 
statement  of  the  principles  of  political  economy — the  real, 
everlasting  political  economy— while  so  much  confusion 
existed  as  to  the  meaning  of  terms  in  the  literature  relat- 
ing to  the  science.  He  therefore  changed  his  plan,  left 
the  primer  for  an  after  labour  and  laid  out  at  once  a 
much  larger  work — one  that  should  recast  political  econ- 
omy and  examine  and  explicate  terminology  as  well  as 
principles,  and  which,  beginning  at  the  beginning,  should 
trace  the  rise  and  partial  development  of  the  science  in 
the  hands  of  its  founders  a  century  ago,  and  then  show 
its  gradual  emasculation  and  at  last  abandonment  by  its 
professed  teachers;  accompanying  this  with  an  account  of 
the  extension  of  the  science  outside  and  independently  of 
the  schools  in  the  philosophy  of  the  natural  order  now 
spreading  over  the  world  under  the  name  of  the  single  tax. 

"Progress  and  Poverty"  was  "an  inquiry  into  the  cause 
of  industrial  depressions  and  of  increase  of  want  with 
increase  of  wealth."  This  new  book,  as  it  broadened  out, 
became  far  more  ambitious  in  scope.  It  purposed  to  de- 
fine the  science  that  names  the  conditions  in  which  civi- 
lised men  shall  get  their  living.  No  writer  on  political 
economy  had  ever  before  set  himself  so  great  a  task;  in- 
deed, no  writer  ever  before  had  assumed  that  he  understood 
the  full  relations  of  the  science,  Adam  Smith's  immortal 
work  being  "An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Causes  of 
the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  and  the  most  authoritative  recent 
work,  that  of  John  Stuart  ]\Iill,  beinff  a  treatise  on  the 


Age,  52-57]  COMMENCES  LAST  BOOK  565 

''Principles  of  Political  Economy."  To  Henry  George's 
view,  none  of  the  economists,  from  Smith  to  Mill,  realised 
the  correlation  of  the  laws  of  production  or  likewise  those 
of  distribution.  But  though  he  believed  he  himself  saw 
clearly  and  felt  that  he  could  prove  his  reasoning,  he 
nevertheless  hesitated  to  give  his  book  the  name  its  scope 
seemed  to  warrant  until  the  writing  was  nearing  its  com- 
pletion, a  few  months  before  his  death.  Then  he  defi- 
nitely decided  on  the  title  which  in  his  judgment  the  book 
should  justly  have — "The  Science  of  Political  Economy." 
But  scarcely  had  the  enlarged  plan  of  work  begun  to 
take  shape  in  the  spring  of  1891  when  a  remarkable  in- 
terruption occurred.  No  less  a  personage  than  Pope  Leo 
XIII.  entered  the  controversy  on  the  land  question,  ad- 
dressing an  encyclical  letter  "to  our  venerable  brethren, 
all  patriarchs,  primates,  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the 
Catholic  world."  The  encyclical  was  on  "The  Condition 
of  Labour,"  and  while  there  was  a  confusion  of  socialism 
and  anarchism  with  the  single  tax,  and  neither  Henry 
George  nor  the  single  tax  proposition  were  specifically 
named,  yet  Archbishop  Corrigan  of  Xew  York  hailed  the 
papal  letter  as  the  highest  sanction  of  his  own  opposition 
to  the  single  tax  doctrine  as  preached  by  Dr.  McGlynn 
and  Henry  George.  In  London,  Cardinal  Manning  told 
Mr.  George's  eldest  son,  who  chanced  to  be  there,  that  the 
Pope's  letter  aimed  at  the  Henry  George  teachings;  al- 
though he  intimated  that  between  the  postulates  and  the 
deduction  Henry  George  could  drive  a  coach  and  four. 
Mr.  George  wrote  to  his  son :  "For  my  part,  I  regard  the 
encyclical  letter  as  aimed  at  us,  and  at  us  alone,  almost.^ 

1  On  the  other  hand,  a  number  of  Mr.  George's  Catholic  friends  from 
the  first  contended  that  the  Pope  did  not  condemn  the  single  tax  doc- 
trine, some  like  Rev.  Dr.  Burtsell  holding  that  that  was  "free  doctrine." 
to  be  adopted  or  rejected  by  individuals  without  justly  incun'ing  the  dis- 


566  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

And  I  feel  very  much  encouraged  by  the  honour."'  He 
later  wrote  (June  9)  :  "I  thinlv  I  ought  to  write  something 
about  it.  Of  course  the  Pope's  letter  itself  is  very  weak; 
but  to  reply  to  him  might  give  an  opportunity  of  explain- 
ing our  principles  to  many  people  who  know  little  or 
nothing  about  them." 

But  this  was  not  the  trifling  matter  that  Mr.  George  at 
first  purposed  to  make  of  it ;  for  the  reply,  which  took  the 
form  of  an  open  letter  to  the  Pope,  grew  in  his  hands, 
as  his  writing  usually  did.  It  was  not  finished  until 
September,  and  comprised  twenty-five  thousand  words; 
twice  as  many  as  the  encyclical,  which  he  printed  with  it. 
He  had  intended  also  to  publish  Bishop  Nulty's  pastoral 
letter  with  it,  but  concluded  that  that  would  make  the 


pleasure  or  the  rebuke  of  the  Church  through  her  officers.  Mr.  George 
himself,  answering  a  correspondent  in  the  columns  of  the  "New  York 
Sun,"  in  January,  1893}  said:  "That  the  encyclical  on  the  'Condition 
of  Labour '  seemed  to  me  to  condemn  the  '  single  tax '  theory  is  true. 
But  it  made  it  clear  that  the  Pope  did  not  rightly  understand  that 
theory.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  in  the  open  letter  to  winch  your  cor- 
respondent refers  I  asked  permission  to  lay  before  the  Pope  the  grounds 
of  our  belief  and  to  show  that  '  our  postulates  are  all  stated  or  implied  in 
your  encyclical '  and  that  '  they  are  the  primary  perceptions  of  human 
reason,  the  fundamental  teachings  of  the  Christian  faith' ;  declaring  that, 
so  far  from  avoiding,  '  we  earnestly  seek  the  judgment  of  religion,  the 
tribunal  of  which  your  Holiness,  as  the  head  of  the  largest  body  of  Christ- 
ians, is  the  most  august  representative.'  The  answer  has  come.  In  the 
reinstatement  of  Dr.  ]\IcGlynn  on  a  correct  presentation  of  '  single  tax ' 
doctrines,  the  highest  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  has  declared  in 
the  most  emphatic  manner  that  there  is  nothing  in  them  inconsistent 
with  the  Catholic  faith.  From  henceforth  the  encyclical  on  the  '  Con- 
dition of  Labour'—  a  most  noble  and  noteworthy  declaration  that  religion 
is  concerned  with  the  social  evils  of  our  time,  and  that  chronic  poverty  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  dispensation  of  Providence  —  is  evidently  to  be 
understood  not  as  disapproving  the  'single  tax,'  but  as  disapproving  of 
the  grotesque  misrepresentations  of  it  that  were  evidently  at  first  pre- 
sented to  the  Pope." 


Age,  52-57] 


LETTER  TO  THE  POPE  567 


volume  too  bulky.  He  wrote  to  his  son  (August  21)  : 
"I  think  I  have  done  a  good  piece  of  work  and  that  it 
will  be  useful  and  will  attract  attention.  .  .  .  What  I 
have  really  aimed  at  is  to  make  a  clear,  brief  explanation 
of  our  principles;  to  show  their  religious  character,  and 
to  draw  a  line  between  us  and  the  socialists.  I  have 
written  really  for  such  men  as  Cardinal  Manning,  General 
Booth  and  religious-minded  men  of  all  creeds." 

The  book  was  published  simultaneously  in  New  York 
(United  States  Book  Company)  and  London  (Swan  Son- 
nenschein  &  Company)  and  at  the  same  time  an  Italian 
translation  by  Ludovico  Eusebio  was  brought  out  in  Turin 
and  Eome  by  the  Unione  Tii^ografico-Editrice,  publishers 
of  the  Italian  translation  of  "Progress  and  Poverty," 
which  Sr.  Eusebio  had  made  a  year  or  two  before.  A 
copy  of  the  translation  of  the  "Letter  to  the  Pope,"  beau- 
tifully printed  and  handsomely  bound,  was  presented  to 
Leo  XIII.  personally  by  Monsignor  Caprini,  Prefect  of 
the  Vatican  Library,  though  Mr.  George  never  received, 
directly  or  indirectly,  aught  in  reply. 

Mr.  Walker  of  Birmingham  voiced  the  feelings  of  the 
multitude  of  friends  everywhere  who  had  been  shocked 
at  the  news  of  Mr.  George's  illness  and  had  had  linger- 
ing fears  of  impaired  powers.  "The  great  charm  of  the 
book  to  me,"  wrote  Walker,  "was  that  the  work  revealed 
you  in  all  your  old  intellectual  vigour  and  showed  in 
every  paragraph  that  you  had  recovered  all  your  mental 
powers,  for  which,  most  reverently  I  say,  thank  God !" 

But  the  little  book  did  not  start  the  large  immediate 
discussion  that  its  author  expected,  and  he  relapsed  into 
a  feeling  he  had  entertained  before  the  papal  encyclical 
had  appeared  and  which  he  had  expressed  in  a  letter  (May 
18)  to  a  New  Church  friend,  James  E.  Mills:  "How  sad 
it  is  to  see  a  church  in  all  its  branches  offerinsr  men  stones 


568  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

instead  of  bread,  and  thistles  instead  of  figs.  From  Prot- 
estant preachers  to  Pope,  avowed  teachers  of  Christianity 
are  with  few  exceptions  preaching  almsgiving  or  social- 
ism, and  ignoring  the  simple  remedy  of  justice."  George 
at  times  had  regrets  that  he  had  stopped  work  on  his 
political  economy  to  make  reply  to  the  Pope,  but  many 
of  the  friends  thought  the  latter  writing  could  ill  have 
been  spared  on  account  of  its  brevity  and  exalted  religious 
tone.  After  three  editions  had  been  exhausted  in  Eng- 
land, James  C.  Durant,  of  London,  who  had  joined  Mr. 
George  in  bringing  out  the  sixpenny  edition  of  "Progress 
and  Poverty"  in  1882,  himself  paid  for  a  special  edition 
of  the  "Open  Letter  to  the  Pope"  for  free  circulation. 
Subsequently  in  the  United  States  this  little  book  became 
a  favourite  in  propaganda  work. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  many  times,  the  essence  of 
Henry  George's  economics  is  ethical — the  natural  order, 
justice.  It  carries  with  it  a  profound  belief  in  an  All- 
maker;  it  pulses  with  the  conviction  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  When,  therefore,  Her- 
bert Spencer,  goaded  by  a  hot  controversy  raised  in  the 
British  newspapers  and  periodicals  over  his  early  "Social 
Statics"  (quoted  by  single  taxers  in  support  of  single 
tax  principles)  made  a  recantation  of  his  former  senti- 
ments on  the  land  question  and  repudiated  the  principle 
he  had  put  in  such  clear  and  unqualified  terms  that  God 
had  made  the  land  for  all  the  people  equally,  Mr.  George 
was  stirred  to  the  depths.  To  his  mind  Spencer's  offence 
was  not  merely  that  of  a  philosopher  who  attempted  to  ex- 
plain away  and  shiftingly  deny  what  before  he  had  as- 
serted to  be  a  fundamental,  obvious  and  everlasting  truth, 
but  that  with  his  later  philosophy,  he  had  allowed  mate- 
rialism to  take  the  place  of  God.  Moreover,  three  maga- 
zine articles  in  denial  of  "natural  rights,"  written  in  the 


Age,  52-57]  A  PERPLEXED   PHILOSOPHER  569 

materialistic  vein,  had  appeared  in  1890  from  the  pen  of 
Professor  Thomas  H.  Huxley,  and  the  chief  postulates 
of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  were  probably  to  the  emi- 
nent scientist's  belief  overthrown.^  George  wrote  to  Tay- 
lor at  the  time  (September  16,  1890)  :  "I  suppose  you 
read  Huxley's  'Nineteenth  Century'  articles.  What  do 
you  think  of  him  as  a  philosopher?  T  am  itching  to  get 
at  him,  and  will,  as  soon  as  I  can  get  a  little  leisure." 
It  was  early  in  the  new  year  (1892)  that  George  again 
laid  aside  work  on  his  political  economy  and  took  up 
Spencer.  And  he  took  the  opportunity  to  include  Hux- 
ley, picturing  him  in  passing  as  "Professor  Bullhead"  in 
the  allegorical  chapter  entitled  "Principal  Brown." 

All  of  Mr.  George's  immediate  friends  who  learned  of 
his  intention  to  write  on  Spencer  were  greatly  pleased; 
and  remembering  his  achievements  in  his  "Letter  to  the 
Pope"  and  his  preceding  reply  to  the  Duke  of  Argyll, 
they  prepared  themselves  for  an  intellectual  treat.  But 
some  of  the  friends  were  alarmed  when  told  that  he 
would  incidentally  touch  on  the  synthetic  philosophy.  Dr. 
Taylor,  whom  Mr.  George  called  "of  old  my  representa- 
tive of  Speneerianism,"  thought  that  George  ought  to 
"leave  any  review  of  the  Spencerian  system  of  phil- 
osophy to  those  who  are  in  that  special  field  and  who 
have  had  special  training  for  such  work."  Continuing 
he  said :  "In  your  own  particular  field,  I  am  satisfied  you 
are  invincible;  but  I  should  not  feel  so  sure  of  you  in 
metaphysics,  philosophy  or  cosmogony.  Eemember  that 
life  is  short,  and  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  limited, 
and  that  you  have  not  yet  produced  (what  you  should 
produce)   a  monumental  work  on  political  economy." 


^Professor  Huxley   republished    these   essays    in   a   volume   entitled 
"Method  and  Results." 


570  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i89i-i896 

George  thanked  Taylor  for  his  frank  counsel,  which  he 
took  to  be  "the  strongest  proof  of  friendship."  But  there 
was  no  change  of  ]30sition.  George  wrote  of  the  harsh- 
ness of  his  tone  towards  Spencer  and  of  his  views  on 
evolution  in  successive  letters. 

April  18,  1892. 

"While  I  shall  trim  down  or  rather,  alter  in  places 
my  harsher  references  to  Spencer,  so  as  to  bring  them 
later — and  had  in  fact  already  done  so — I  think  they 
must  appear  somewhere.  I  do  not  regard  this  as  con- 
troversy. It  is  rather  exposure.  In  turning  his  back 
on  all  he  has  said  before,  Mr.  Spencer  has  not  argued, 
and  no  explanation  is  possible  that  does  not  impute 
motives. 

"As  for  the  philosoph}-,  I  think  I  take  a  truer  view 
of  it  than  you  do.  It  is  substantially  the  view  I  took 
in  'Progress  and  Poverty' ;  but  it  has  been  fortified  by  a 
closer  examination.  John  Fiske  does  not  truly  repre- 
sent Spencerianism,  but  has  grafted  his  own  ideas  on 
it.  So  too,  I  think,  with  Professor  LeConte — or  rather 
that  he  holds  Avhat  I  should  call  the  external  of  evolu- 
tion, with  which  I  do  not  quarrel ;  for  though  I  do  not 
see  the  weight  of  the  evidence  with  which  it  is  asserted, 
it  seems  to  me  most  reasonable.  What  I  do  quarrel 
with  is  the  essential  materialism  of  the  Spencerian 
ideas;  and  this  seems  to  me  to  inhere  in  them  in  spite 
of  all  Spencers  denials." 

April  29. 

"I  simply  don't  see  evolution  from  the  animal  as  the 
form  in  which  man  has  come.  I  don't  deny  it,  and  as 
I  said  in  a  sentence  I  hardly  think  you  noticed,  I  at- 
tach no  importance  to  the  question.  All  I  contend  for 
is  something  behind  the  form." 


The  book,  bearing  title  of  "A  Perplexed  Philosopher," 
was  out  in  October  (1892).  But  while  it  was  widely  and 
well  read,  it  awakened  no  general  demonstration  in  press 


Age,  52-57]  ATTITUDE  ON  EVOLUTION  571 

or  periodicals  and  the  author  had  the  same  kind  of  mis- 
givings that  immediately  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
"Letter  to  the  Pope" — misgivings  that  he  had  misused 
his  time  in  not  keeping  along  with  the  political  economy. 
Even  while  writing  the  Spencer  book  (in  April,  1893)  he 
wrote  incidentally  to  Dr.  Taylor:  "Several  times  since  be- 
ginning it,  I  have  thought  that  perhaps  it  would  have 
been  better  to  have  pushed  ahead  with  other  work." 
Spencer  himself  never  directly  or  indirectly  during 
George's  life  noticed  the  tremendous  indictment,  and  "A 
Perplexed  Philosopher"  was  the  sole  one  of  the  George 
books  that,  for  many  years  at  any  rate,  was  not  trans- 
lated into  other  languages.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  reason  of  the  comparative  non-success  of  this  book, 
it  could  not  have  been  that  Henry  George's  name  had  lost 
its  potency,  for  about  this  time  occurred  what  must  stand 
out  as  remarkable  in  the  history  of  economic  literature. 

Tom  L.  Johnson  of  Cleveland,  0.,  following  the  advice 
given  by  Mr.  George  at  their  first  interview  in  1885,  had 
gone  into  politics,  run  for  Congress  as  a  free  trade,  sin- 
gle tax  Democrat  in  1888,  had  been  defeated,  had  run 
again  in  1890  in  the  same  way  and  been  elected.  The' 
Democrats  were  in  power  in  the  House  of  Eepresentatives 
at  Washington  and  brought  forward  a  timid  little  tariff- 
reducing  bill.  Mr.  Johnson  conceived  the  idea  of  getting 
Henry  George's  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  into  the 
"Congressional  Record,"  the  official  report  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Congress.  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  had 
up  to  then  had  an  extremely  wide  circulation,  first  in 
serial  form  in  a  number  of  newspapers,  then  in  regular 
book  form,  and  afterwards  in  cheap,  popular  form,  through 
the  cfi^orts  of  educating  groups  known  as  "Hand  to  Hand 
Clubs,"  of  which  William  J.  Atkinson  of  New  York  and 
Logan   Carlisle,   son   of   John   G.    Carlisle,   then   United 


572  LIFE  OF  HENEY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

States  Senator  from  Kentucky,  were  the  prime  movers, 
and  through  whose  efforts  close  to  two  hundred  thousand 
copies  had  been  put  into  circulation. 

Tom  L.  Johnson  now  determined  to  exceed  this.  Under 
a  "leave  to  print"  rule,  members  of  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives  had  long  been  accustomed  to  publish  speeches 
that  limited  time  for  debate  prevented  them  from  deliv- 
ering, or  to  publish  extensive  supplementary  printed  mat- 
ter to  their  delivered  "remarks."  But  as  the  issue  of  the 
"Congressional  Eecord"  was  necessarily  limited,  members 
invariably  reprinted  matter  from  the  "Eecord"  to  send  to 
their  constituents  or  whoever  else  in  the  United  States 
they  chose.  This  printing  they  themselves  had  to  pay 
for;  but  they  had  the  privilege  of  sending  out  such  mat- 
ter free  through  the  mails,  under  the  "franking  privi- 
lege." It  was  a  time-honoured  custom  for  members  in 
this  way  to  send  a  great  quantity  of  reprinted  "Congres- 
sional Eecord"  matter  into  their  districts,  especially  pre- 
ceding congressional  or  presidential  elections. 

Acting  upon  this  "leave  to  print"  privilege,  Mr.  John- 
son, with  Mr.  George's  hearty  approval,  divided  "Protec- 
tion or  Free  Trade?"  between  himself  and  five  other  con- 
gressmen, namely,  "William  J.  Stone  of  Kentucky,  Joseph 
E.  Washington  of  Tennessee,  John  W.  Fithian  of  Illinois, 
Thomas  Bowman  of  Iowa  and  Jerry  Simpson  of  Kansas, 
Each  man  on  a  separate  day  introduced  his  section  of  the 
book  as  a  "part  of  his  remarks"  in  the  tariff  debate.  The 
Eepublican  minority  beheld  this  performance  with  aston- 
ishment. They  wanted  to  expunge  the  work  from  the 
"Eecord"  on  the  ground  that  an  entire  book  had  never 
before  been  so  published.  That  it  was  not  the  "abuse"  of 
the  "leave  to  print"  privilege,  but  that  particular  book 
which  they  opposed,  became  clear,  when  after  having 
motions  to  expunge  voted  down,  they  endeavoured  to  offset 


Age,  52-57]  "ST.  GEORGE"  IN  CONGRESS  573 

the  effect  of  the  Henry  George  book  by  themselves  in- 
serting in  the  "Record"  a  book  by  George  Gunton  defend- 
ing monopolies,  though  there  was  not  afterwards  enough 
call  for  the  Gunton  book  to  pay  the  cost  of  reprinting  it 
outside  the  "Record/' 

The  Republicans  then  tried  to  make  capital  out  of  the 
incident  by  charging  the  Democrats  with  going  headlong 
into  the  free  trade  heresy  and  making  Henry  George,  with 
his  single  tax  doctrine,  their  political  prophet.  But  the 
Democrats,  delighted  to  find  something  that  made  their 
political  adversaries  cry  out,  and  not  over-particular  as  to 
whether  or  not  this  book  was  consistent  with  their  own 
professed  principles  and  policy,  showed  something  resem- 
bling enthusiasm  in  circulating  the  enormous  edition  of 
the  work  that  Mr.  Johnson  had  printed.  The  Republi- 
can press  all  over  the  country  took  up  and  increased  the 
outcries  of  the  Republican  Congressmen,  with  the  misrep- 
resentation, perhaps  unintentional,  that  the  work  was 
being  printed  at  public  expense;  while  the  Democratic 
press  defended  the  action  of  the  Democratic  Congressmen 
and  to  some  extent  defended  the  book  itself;  so  that  the 
entire  country  was  for  the  time  turned  into  debating  clubs, 
with  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  for  the  subject  matter. 

Nothing  could  have  better  suited  IMr.  Johnson's  purpose. 
He  had  the  book  printed  compactly  in  large  quantities  at 
the  rate  of  five-eighths  of  a  cent  a  copy.  The  great  adver- 
tising the  Republican  and  Democratic  papers  had  given 
it  made  an  immense  demand  for  what  was  known  collo- 
quially in  the  House  as  "St.  George,"  even  stalwart  Re- 
publicans from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  being  pestered 
for  copies.  Many  congressmen  sent  large  numbers  of  the 
book  into  their  districts,  and  Mr.  Johnson  himself  sent 
two  hundred  thousand  copies  into  the  State  of  Ohio.  The 
National    Democratic    Committee   had   seventy   thousand 


574  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1891-1896 

copies  distributed  in  Indiana  and  the  Reform  Club  of 
New  York,  which  was  active  in  anti-tariff  educational 
work,  placed  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  in  the  north- 
west. In  all  more  than  one  million  two  hundred  thou- 
sand copies  of  this  edition  of  "St.  George"  were  printed 
and  distributed,  and  perhaps  as  much  as  two  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  a  better,  two-cent  edition;  so  that  of 
this  single  book  by  Henry  George  almost  two  million 
copies  were  printed  within  less  than  eight  years  after 
being  written — something  never  approached  by  any  other 
work  in  economic  literature  save  by  the  incomparable 
"Progress  and  Poverty,"  which  with  its  many  translations 
may  have  exceeded  that  number  of  copies. 

The  expense  of  printing  "St.  George"  was  met  partly 
by  small  popular  contributions  from  free  traders  and 
single  taxers  scattered  about  the  country;  partly  by  larger 
sums  from  men  like  Thomas  G.  Shearman  of  New  York, 
James  E.  Mills  of  California,  Thomas  F.  Walker  and 
Silas  M.  Burroughs  of  England;  and  partly  by  money 
from  the  National  Democratic  committee  and  the  Reform 
Club  of  New  York.  But  the  chief  expense  was  borne  by 
Tom  L.  Johnson.  Of  course  there  was  no  thought  of 
copyright  in  all  this,  Mr.  George  invariably  sacrificing 
that  when  it  would  appreciably  help  the  circulation  of 
his  writings.  He  looked  to  the  propagation  of  the  faith 
above  everything  else. 

It  was  during  this  period,  or  more  precisely,  on  the  last 
day  of  August,  1892,  that  "The  Standard"  succumbed  to 
the  inevitable,  and  ceased  publication.  After  William  T. 
Croasdale's  death,  Louis  F.  Post  had  by  general  request 
taken  editorial  control.  But  the  paper  kept  running  be- 
hind and  became  too  much  of  a  financial  burden  longer 
to  carry,  as  what  Mr.  George  said  in  a  signed  statement 
in  the  last  number  had  become  more  and  more  evident. 


Age,  52-57]  DEATH  OF    ''THE    STANDARD"  575 

"The  work  that  'The  Standard'  was  intended  to  do  has 
been  done,  and  in  the  larger  field  into  which  our  move- 
ment has  passed,  there  is  no  longer  need  for  it.  For 
the  usefulness  of  a  journal  devoted  to  the  propagation 
of  an  idea  must  diminish  as  its  end  is  attained.  Needed 
while  it  is  the  only  means  of  presenting  that  idea  to 
the  public  and  keeping  its  friends  in  touch,  that  need 
ceases  as  the  idea  finds  wider  expression  and  journals 
of  general  circulation  are  open  to  it.  .  .  .  Its  files 
.  .  .  record  an  advance  of  the  great  cause  to  which 
it  was  devoted  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  such 
movements.  Where  in  the  beginning  it  stood  alone, 
there  are  now  scattered  over  the  United  States  hun- 
dreds of  local  journals  devoted  to  the  same  cause,  while 
the  columns  of  general  newspapers  of  the  largest  circu- 
lation are  freely  opened  to  the  advocacy  of  our  views. 
They  are,  indeed,  making  their  way  through  all  avenues 
of  thought — the  pulpit,  the  stage  and  the  novel,  in  leg- 
islatures, in  Congress  and  on  the  political  stump.  The 
ignorance  and  prejudice  which  the  earlier  files  of 
'The  Standard'  showed  that  we  then  had  to  meet,  have, 
in  their  cruder  forms  at  least,  almost  disappeared,  and 
among  our  most  active  friends  are  thousands  of  men 
who  then  believed  our  success  would  be  the  destruction 
of  society.  Within  the  last  few  months  nearly  a  mil- 
lion copies  of  a  single  tax  book  have  been  distributed 
under  the  sanction  of  one  of  the  great  political  parties; 
and  the  free  trade  sentiment  to  which  we  were  the  first 
to  give  practical  and  determined  expression,  has  so 
grown  that  at  the  recent  Democratic  ?^ational  Conven- 
tion it  was  strong  enough  to  break  the  slated  pro- 
gramme and  to  force  a  free  trade  declaration  into  the 
platform. 

"Let  us  say  good-bye  to  it;  not  as  those  who  mourn, 
but  as  those  who  rejoice.  Times  change,  men  pass,  but 
that  which  is  built  on  truth  endures." 

The  hot  and  comparatively  radical  campaign,  with  most 
of  the  Democratic  newspapers  hammering  on  the  tariff 
question,  made  up  to  some  extent  for  the  death  of  "The 


576  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

Standard":  and  then  came  Grover  Cleveland's  re-election 
to  the  presidency. 

All  seemed  propitious  for  great  events.  Henry  George 
wanted  no  office;  he  asked  only  that  President  Cleveland 
apjily  the  chief  principle  involved  in  his  election,  and 
make  war  on  the  tariff.  But  Cleveland's  first  important 
official  act  brought  a  great  disappointment,  for  he  switched 
issues,  by  subordinating  the  tariff  to  the  money  question, 
in  calling  a  special  session  of  Congress  to  deal  with  the 
currency.  While  it  worked  directly  into  the  hands  of  the 
protectionist  faction  in  the  Democratic  party,  it  made  the 
educational  work  of  Johnson  and  George  in  circulating 
"Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  go  for  naught  at  that  time, 
whatever  might  result  in  the  future  from  so  great  a  circu- 
lation of  this  book.  And  then,  when  the  tariff  question 
was  up  a  year  later,  George  wrote  to  Johnson  (July  24, 
1894)  :  "The  President's  letter  to  Chairman  Wilson  of 
the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  is  very  bad.  Free  raw 
material  is  taking  the  burden  off  the  manufacturers  and 
keeping  it  on  the  consumers." 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  George  sat  in  the  gallery  of  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  and  listened  with  great  happiness  to 
Tom  L.  Johnson — a  steel  rail  manufacturer — move  to  put 
steel  rails  on  the  free  list  and  make  a  fervent  free  trade 
speech  in  support.  The  moderates  in  the  Democratic 
party  of  course  could  not  let  such  an  incident  pass.  One 
of  them,  by  voice  and  pointing  finger,  called  attention 
of  the  House  to  the  master  in  the  gallery  and  the  pupil 
on  the  floor;  whereupon  a  lot  of  the  more  independent 
Democrats  streamed  upstairs  to  shake  hands  with  the 
man  who  held  no  political  office,  who  asked  for  no  po- 
political  patronage,  who  said  bold  things  without  counting 
consequences  and  who  had  a  fascinating,  indescribable  in- 
fluence over  the  thoughts  of  multitudes. 


Age,  52-57]  CHICAGO  RAILROAD   STRIKE  577 

If  Henry  George  was  disappointed  in  Mr.  Cleveland's 
first  actions  in  this  second  term  of  the  presidency,  he  was 
moved  to  great  hostility  to  him  over  the  matter  of  the 
Chicago  railroad  strike;  when,  setting  aside  State  author- 
ity, indeed,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  Governor  Altgeld, 
the  President  sent  Federal  troops  to  the  scene.  Not  a 
New  York  newspaper  opposed  the  Executive  action.  Yet 
ten  thousand  men,  mostly  working  men,  assembled  at  a 
mass  meeting  in  and  about  Cooper  Union.  Eev.  Thomas 
A.  Ducey  of  St.  Leo's  Catholic  Church,  Charles  Fred- 
erick Adams  and  James  A.  Heme  the  actor,  were  among 
the  speakers,  and  spoke  effectively  and  forcibly;  while 
Henry  George's  speech  seemed  to  hit  the  target's  centre : 

"1  yield  to  nobody  in  my  respect  for  law  and  order 
and  my  hatred  of  disorder;  but  there  is  something  more 
important  even  than  law  and  order,  and  that  is  the 
principle  of  liberty.  I  yield  to  nobody  in  my  respect- 
for  the  rights  of  property;  yet  I  would  rather  see  every 
locomotive  in  this  land  ditched,  every  car  and  every 
depot  burned  and  every  rail  torn  up,  than  to  have  them 
preserved  by  means  of  a  Federal  standing  army.  That 
is  the  order  that  reigned  in  Warsaw.  (Long  applause.) 
That  is  the  order  in  the  keeping  of  which  every  demo- 
cratic republic  before  ours  has  fallen.  I  love  the  Ameri- 
can Eepublic  better  than  I  love  such  order."  (Long 
applause.) 

And  a  little  later  Mr.  George  became  freshly  angered 
against  the  President  for  his  special  message  to  Congress 
that  threatened  war  with  Great  Britain  over  the  Vene- 
zuelan boundary  dispute.  Much  as  he  hated  war,  George 
justified  it  when  waged  for  natural  rights — for  liberty. 
But  even  talk  of  war  between  two  great  and  enlightened 
nations  like  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  espe- 
cially over  what  at  bottom  he  believed  to  be  a  mere  squab- 


578  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [1891-1896 

ble  of  private  parties  as  to  mineral  claims,  raised  the  wrath 
within  him,  and  he  made  an  indignant  speech  against  the 
President  at  a  mass  meeting  at  Cooper  Union. 

Henry  George's  estimation  of  the  President  had  under- 
gone a  great  change  since  he  spoke  and  voted  for  him  in 
1892.  He  wrote  in  the  New  York  "Journal''  on  the  day 
before  the  Presidential  election,  1896 : 

"The  philosophic  historian,  who,  after  our  grand- 
children have  passed  away,  reviews  our  times,  must 
write  of  him  [Cleveland]  as  more  dangerous  to  the 
Eepublic  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  sequel  has 
proved  that  it  was  the  Whitneys  and  the  Huntingtons 
who  had  really  cause  for  rejoicing  in  his  election;  not 
men  like  me.  For  no  Harrison,  no  McKinley;  no  chief 
of  trusts  and  rings,  such  as  Kockefeller  or  Morgan ; 
no  king's  jester  of  monopoly,  such  as  Chauncey  M.  De- 
pew  or  Bob  Ingersoll,  could,  if  elected  as  a  Kepublicau, 
have  used  the  place  so  to  strike  at  the  vitals  of  the 
Eepublic." 

Despite  this  disappointment,  cheer  came  from  other 
points.  Encouraging  news  of  the  progress  of  the  single  tax 
idea  in  political  affairs  was  coming  from  Australia  aud 
New  Zealand.  Similar  good  news  came  from  Great  Britain. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  in  March,  1891,  James  Stuart's 
motion,  that  "in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  freeholders 
and  owners  of  ground  values  in  the  metropolis  ought  to 
contribute  directly  a  substantial  share  of  local  taxation," 
had  received  123  votes  to  119  against ;  thus  showing  great 
strength  for  the  idea.  Since  then  it  had  been  stead- 
ily creeping  over  the  country  and  more  and  more  becom- 
ing a  leading  question  in  the  constituencies.  The  English 
Land  Eestoration  League  had  been  conducting,  under  the 
management  of  its  able  and  untiring  secretary,  Frederick 
Verinder,   a   "Eed   Van"   educational   campaign — several 


Age,  52-57]  MILESTONES  OF  PROGRESS  579 

large  vans  that  afforded  two  or  three  speakers  living  quar- 
ters, slowly  travelling  from  village  to  village,  for  nightly 
open-air  meetings  and  the  preaching  of  the  faith.  Wil- 
liam Saunders,  Thomas  F.  Walker,  D'Arcy  W.  Eeeve, 
and  S.  M.  Burroughs  were  among  the  contributors  towards 
this  work;  but  the  largest  individual  contribution  came 
from  an  Englishman  in  the  United  States  who  wished  not 
to  be  publicly  known  in  the  matter. 

At  home  had  occurred  what  must  be  a  landmark  in  the 
history  of  the  single  tax.  Henry  George  wrote  Eichard 
McGhee,  of  Glasgow   (February  13,  1894)  : 

"Tom  Johnson  is  doing  great  work  in  Congress,  and 
James  G.  Maguire's  single  tax  amendment  to  the  in- 
come tax  bill  has  brought  our  views  for  the  first  time 
into  the  Congressional  arena.  It  got  six  votes:  Those 
of  James  G.  Maguire  of  California,  Tom  L.  Johnson 
and  Michael  D.  Harter  of  Ohio,  Jerry  Simpson  of  Kan- 
sas and  John  DeWitt  Warner  and  Charles  Tracy  of 
New  York — double  what  I  had  counted  on,  as  there 
was  no  hope  of  carrying  it  and  the  measure  was  in  a 
position  in  which  we  could  not  show  our  strength;  but 
the  sympathy  is  such  among  radical  Democrats  that 
the  House  cheered  when  the  six  men  stood  up.  The 
direct  line  of  our  advance  is  however  in  State  legisla- 
tion, and  the  single  tax  may  in  that  way  be  brought 
into  political  issue  at  almost  any  time." 

As  Henry  George  surveyed  the  world  from  the  quiet  of 
his  workroom  the  hand  of  Providence  seemed  to  show  in 
the  rapid  progress  of  the  cause,  and  he  set  down,  in  rough 
abbreviated  form,  these  notes  for  a  preface  for  "The  Sci- 
ence of  Political  Economy,"  writing  on  the  sheets  the  date 
of  March  7,  1894: 

"The  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  publication  of 
'Progress  and  Poverty'  have  been  on  my  part  devoted 


580  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

to  the  propagation  of  the  truths  taught  in  'Progress 
and  Poverty'  by  books,  pamphlets,  magazine  articles, 
newspaper  work,  lectures  and  speeches,  and  have  been 
so  greatly  successful  as  not  only  far  to  exceed  what 
fifteen  years  ago  I  could  have  dared  to  look  forward 
to  in  this  time,  but  to  have  given  me  reason  to  feel  that 
of  all  the  men  of  whom  I  have  ever  heard  who  have 
attempted  anything  like  so  great  a  work  against  any- 
thing like  so  great  odds,  I  have  been  in  the  result  of 
the  endeavour  to  arouse  thought  most  favoured.  Not 
merely  wherever  the  English  tongue  is  spoken,  but  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  men  are  arising  who  will  carry 
forward  to  final  triumph  the  great  movement  which 
'Progress  and  Poverty'  began.  The  great  work  is  not 
done,  but  it  is  commenced,  and  can  never  go  back." 

Mr.  George's  purpose  was  to  allow  nothing  to  interfere 
with  the  finishing  of  his  "Political  Economy,"  which  he 
looked  forward  to  bringing  out  in  the  fall  of  1896  or 
spring  of  1897;  but  the  new  alignment  of  national  par- 
ties drew  him  from  his  retirement  and  once  more  into  the 
current  of  politics. 

The  industrial  depression  and  currency  famine  that 
reached  its  most  acute  stage  in  the  summer  of  1893, 
dragged  along  into  1896.  Every  field  of  industry  in  the 
country  had  suffered  more  or  less  during  the  protracted 
depression.  Through  the  West  and  South  the  popular 
belief  was  that  the  cause  of  this  lay  mainly  in  an  arti- 
ficial shrinkage  of  the  currency,  and  the  demand  now 
swelled  to  thundering  tones  for  the  remonitisation  and 
free  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar.  In  the  East,  at  least 
among  the  working  men,  the  tariff-protected  trusts,  the 
railroads  and  other  monopolies  were  denounced  as  having 
much  to  do  with  the  hard  times.  President  Cleveland 
had  no  sympathy  with  any  of  this,  and  he  added  fuel  to 
the  fire  of  strong  feeling,  for  he  used  his  office  against 


Age,  52-57]  WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN  581 

what  Mr.  George,  among  many  others,  conceived  to  be 
popular  rights,  and  in  support  of  property  rights,  by  pro- 
tecting and  fostering  the  monopolies,  and  by  making  great 
concessions  to  the  bank  and  bond  powers.  And  when  the 
election  lines  were  eventually  drawn  and  William  McKin- 
ley,  representing  the  House  of  Have,  was  nominated  by 
the  Eepublican  party,  and  William  J.  Bryan,  at  the  hands 
of  the  radical  majority  in  the  Democratic  convention, 
and  for  the  House  of  Want,  became  the  champion  of  free 
silver,  anti-monopoly  and  equal  rights,  Cleveland  openly 
took  the  side  of  the  House  of  Have  and  directly  and  indi- 
rectly worked  for  its  success. 

Since  a  young  man,  Henry  George  had  advocated  as  the 
best  possible  money,  paper  issued  by  the  general  Govern- 
ment— paper  based  on  the  public  credit.  He  regarded  the 
silver  coinage  proposal  as  another  form  of  the  protective 
idea — to  raise,  artificially,  the  price  of  the  silver  com- 
modity. But  economically  unsound  as  he  held  this  prin- 
ciple to  be,  and  expensive  as  he  believed  its  adoption 
would  prove  to  those  least  able  to  help  themselves — the 
mass  of  the  working  population — he  thought  it  greatly 
preferable  to  the  principle  of  privilege  which  the  monopo- 
listic powers  gathered  around  the  gold,  or  so-called 
"sound  money"  candidate  represented.  He  went  to  both 
the  Republican  and  Democratic  National  Conventions  and 
afterwards  travelled  over  the  middle  West,  writing  signed 
articles  to  the  New  York  "Journal"  as  to  what  he  saw 
and  thought.  His  sympathies  were  with  Bryan  in  spite 
of  the  free  silver  doctrine;  but  at  first  he  could  see  little 
hope  of  success.  As  he  travelled,  however,  he  became  hope- 
ful and  at  length  confident  that  Bryan  would  win. 

Tom  L.  Johnson,  Louis  F.  Post  and  a  great  majority 
of  the  single  taxers  shared  Mr.  George's  political  views. 
But  there  were  some  who  opposed  Bryan  on  account  of 


582  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1891-1896 

his  free  silver  doctrine,  which  they  raised  above  all  other 
considerations.  "To  make  the  public  understand"  their 
position,  they  issued  a  kind  of  proclamation  of  their  views, 
and  noticeable  among  the  signatures  were  those  of 
Thomas  G.  Shearman,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Louis 
Prang  and  August  Lewis,  which  proved  the  independent 
relations  subsisting  between  Mr.  George  and  his  friends. 
This  surprised  Mr.  George.  His  attitude  was  character- 
istic. On  the  day  before  election  he  declared  in  the 
"Journal"  his  view  of  the  issue  to  be,  "Shall  the  Republic 
Live?" 

"Of  those  friends  of  mine,  the  few  single  taxers  who, 
deluded,  as  I  think,  by  the  confusion,  purpose  to  sepa- 
rate from  the  majority  of  us  on  the  vote,  I  should  like 
to  ask  that  they  consider  how  they  expected  to  know 
the  great  struggle  to  which  we  have  all  looked  for- 
ward as  inevitable,  when  it  should  come?  Hardly  by 
the  true  issue  appearing  at  first  as  the  prominent  issue. 
For  all  the  great  struggles  of  history  have  begun  on 
subsidiary,  and  sometimes  on  what  seemed  at  the  mo- 
ment irrelevant  issues.  Would  they  not  expect  to  see  all 
the  forces  of  ill-gotten  wealth,  with  the  control  of  the 
majority  of  the  press,  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  a 
reliance  upon  the  common  people — the  working  farm- 
ers and  the  artizan  bread-winners?  Is  not  that  so 
to-day  ? 

"Would  they  not  expect  to  see  the  reliance  of  the 
aristocratic  party  to  be  upon  an  assumed  legality 
and  a  narrow  interpretation  of  the  command,  'Thou 
shalt  not  steal' ;  based  not  upon  God's  law,  but  upon 
man's  law?     Is  not  this  true  in  this  case? 

"Would  they  not  expect  to  have  every  man  who  stood 
prominently  for  freedom  denounced  as  an  anarchist,  a 
communist,  a  repudiator,  a  dishonest  person,  who 
wished  to  cut  down  just  debts?  Is  not  this  so  now? 
Would  they  not  expect  to  hear  predictions  of  the  most 
dire  calamity  overwhelming  the  country  if  the  power 
to  rob  the  masses  was  lessened  ever  so  little?     Has  it 


Age,  52-57]  "SHALL  THE  REPUBLIC  LIVE?"  583 

not  been  so  in  every  struggle  for  greater  freedom  that 
they  can  remember  or  have  ever  read  of? 

"Let  me  ask  them  before  they  vote  to  consider  the 
matter  coolly,  as  if  from  a  distance  in  time  or  space. 
.  .  .  Gold  and  silver  are  merely  the  banners  under 
which  the  rival  contestants  in  this  election  have  ranged 
themselves.  The  banks  are  not  really  concerned  about 
their  legitimate  business  under  any  currency.  They  are 
struggling  for  the  power  of  profiting  by  the  issuance  of 
paper  money,  a  function  properly  and  constitutionally 
belonging  to  the  nation.  The  railroads  are  not  really 
concerned  about  the  'fifty-cent  dollar/  either  for  them- 
selves or  their  employees.  They  are  concerned  about 
their  power  of  running  the  Government  and  making 
and  administering  the  laws.  The  trusts  and  pools  and 
rings  are  not  really  concerned  about  any  reduction  in 
the  wages  of  their  workmen,  but  for  their  own  power 
of  robbing  the  people.  The  larger  business  interests 
have  frightened  each  other,  as  children  do  when  one 
says,  'Ghost !'     Let  them  frighten  no  thinking  man." 

But  they  did  frighten  thinking  men.  For  though 
Bryan  received  nearly  a  million  more  votes  than  elected 
Cleveland  in  1892,  the  fear  of  a  commercial  panic,  of 
closed  factories  and  reduced  wages,  with  the  factors  of 
intimidation  and  corruption,  piled  up  a  still  greater  vote 
for  McKinley.  Mr.  George  had  seen  what  he  believed  to 
1)6  sure  signs  of  Bryan  strength  and  in  the  "Journal"  ar- 
ticles had  confidently  predicted  Bryan's  election;  so  that 
when  the  returns  on  election  night  showed  how  he  had 
miscalculated  the  strength  of  the  opposing  elements,  he 
sustained  a  great  shock.  "]\Ien  will  say  that  I  am  unre- 
liable," he  said  with  simple  frankness  to  his  eldest  son 
as  they  went  home  together.  And  afterwards  he  said: 
"This  result  makes  our  fight  the  harder."  But  early 
next  morning  he  went  to  the  telegraph  office  and  wired 
to  Bryan  a  message  of  congratulation  on  his  splendid 
fight  and  of  cheer  to  keep  his  heart  strong  for  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE   LAST    CAMPAIGN. 

1897.  Age,  58. 

THOUGH  now  only  in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  Mr.  George 
felt  further  advanced  in  life  than  most  men  do  at 
that  age.  While  organically  sound,  the  iron  constitution 
with  which  he  had  started  out  was  perceptibly  weakening 
under  the  incessant  toil  since  boyhood  and  the  extraordi- 
nary strain  of  the  last  sixteen  years  in  putting  the  breath 
of  life  into  a  world-wide  movement  and  inspiring  it  with 
his  own  passionate  enthusiasm.  He  became  conscious  as 
he  travelled  about  during  the  recent  presidential  cam- 
paign that  he  had  lost  his  old  physical  elasticity,  and  he 
found  it  required  an  effort  to  get  back  to  the  newspaper 
habits  of  his  younger  days.  And  when,  instead  of  the 
victory  he  had  expected,  defeat  came,  he  was  more  keenly 
disappointed  than  over  any  previous  public  event  during 
his  lifetime.  It  seemed  to  him,  as  he  said  afterwards,  that 
the  century  was  closing  in  darkness;  that  the  principle 
of  democracy,  which  had  triumphed  in  1800  with  the 
acendancy  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States,  might  be  conquered  by  the  Hamiltonian 
principle  of  aristocracy  and  plutocracy  in  1900.  If  he 
said  little  about  these  sombre  thoughts  at  the  time,  he 
said  less  of  the  consciousness  that  he  probably  would  not 

584 


Age,  58] 


THE  WEAKENED  BODY  585 


much  longer  be  able  physically  to  lead  in  the  cause  for 
equal  rights.  Yet  that  that  must  be  done  by  younger 
men  was  clearly  in  his  mind.  But  if  he  could  not  lead 
the  army,  he  could  define  the  law;  and  he  quietly  settled 
down  again  to  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy" — the 
book  that  he  hoped  would  prove  the  supreme  effort  of  his 
life.  And  over  and  over  he  read  in  the  family  circle  and 
softly  repeated  to  himself,  as  was  one  of  his  habits,  the 
lines  of  Browning's  "Kabbi  Ben  Ezra,''  beginning : 

"Grow  old  along  with  me ! 
The  best  is  yet  to  be. 

The  last  of  life,  for  which  the  first  was  made : 
Our  times  are  in  his  hand 
Who  saith,  'A  whole  I  planned. 
Youth  shows  but  half;  trust  God:  see  all,  nor 
be  afraid !' " 

Mr.  George  found  some  diversion  in  overseeing  the 
building  of  a  house  adjoining  the  old  house  that  the  fam- 
ily occupied  at  Fort  Hamilton.  This  was  to  be  Mrs. 
George's  home,  and  he  took  great  interest  in  it.  It  was 
practically  the  only  thing  that  took  him  away  from  his 
desk. 

But  while  with  an  iron  will  he  held  himself  to  his 
work,  he  had  not  the  old  snap  and  vigour;  and  in  March 
came  what  seemed  like  a  severe  bilious  attack — nausea, 
dizziness,  utter  muscular  weakness.  Dr.  Kelly  gave  warn- 
ing that  work  must  stop  for  a  while.  He  proposed  a  sea 
voyage.  Mr.  George  would  not  listen  to  going  away.  "I 
must  finish  the  book  before  anything  else,"  was  the  reply 
to  all  suggestions  of  cessation. 

Yet  the  family  made  every  effort  to  divert  him.  There 
was  much  reading  aloud — a  little  of  Conan  Doyle,  of 
Stevenson,   of  DeFoe   for   lighter  things;   of   Tennyson, 


586  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1897 

Browning  and  Macaulay  for  poetry;  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son's letters  and  Schopenhauer's  works  to  engage  reflection. 
The  scriptures  were  a  great  solace.  Again  he  listened  to 
the  old  story  of  the  image  with  head  of  gold  and  feet  of 
clay;  and  to  the  story  of  the  prophet  at  the  king's  feast 
reading  the  writing  upon  the  wall :  "Thou  art  weighed  in 
the  balances  and  art  found  wanting." 

During  all  the  early  part  of  this  year  the  second  son, 
Eichard,  who  had  developed  a  talent  for  sculpture,  was 
at  work  upon  a  bust  of  his  father,  doing  the  modelling 
in  a  chamber  adjoining  the  writing  room.  At  various 
times  of  day,  suiting  his  own  inclination,  Mr.  George 
came  and  posed;  or  rather  reposed  in  an  easy-chair,  talk- 
ing, reading  or  going  to  sleep,  in  any  position,  innocently 
supposing  that  he  was  doing  all  that  the  artist  could  ask. 
As  with  everything  his  children  did,  he  took  great  inter- 
est in  this  piece  of  work,  and  he  believed  that  under  the 
patient,  faithful  fingers  of  his  son,  this  piece  of  sculpture 
acquired  essentials  that  former  busts  of  him,  one  by  Carl 
Kohl-Smith  in  1888  and  one  by  John  Scott  Hartley  in 
1894,  did  not  possess.  One  day  when  both  of  his  sons 
were  present  he  said,  after  he  had  been  for  a  while  sitting 
for  the  sculptor  and  musing:  "When  I  am  dead,  you 
boys  will  have  this  bust  to  carry  in  my  funeral  procession, 
as  was  the  custom  with  the  Komans." 

This  was  not  uttered  in  any  spirit  of  morbidness,  but 
in  the  calm  contemplation  of  things  touching  death  as 
well  as  life.  For,  one  day,  after  he  had  quite  recovered 
from  the  temporary  illness  and  lay  stretched  on  the  couch 
in  his  work  room,  his  wife  in  a  chair  beside  him,  and  he 
talked  of  the  progress  of  the  cause,  he  sprang  up  and 
vigorously  paced  the  room.  "The  great,  the  very  great 
advancement  of  our  ideas,"  said  he,  "may  not  show  now, 
but  it  will.     And  it  will  show  more  after  my  death  than 


Age,  58]  DEATH    OF   DAUGHTER   JENNIE  587 

during  my  life.  Men  who  now  hold  back  will  then  ac- 
knowledge that  I  have  been  speaking  the  truth.  Neither 
of  us  can  tell  which  of  us  will  die  first.  But  I  shall  be 
greatly  disappointed  if  you  precede  me,  for  I  have  set 
my  heart  on  having  you  hear  what  men  will  say  of  me 
and  our  cause  when  I  am  gone." 

And  now  came  the  lightning  stroke  out  of  the  clear 
sky.  The  married  daughter,  Jennie,  with  her  seven 
months'  old  baby  boy,  had  come  to  visit  the  parents' 
house,  and  after  a  few  days'  illness  that  seemed  to  be  but 
a  form  of  influenza  and  neuralgia,  suddenly  died  early  in 
the  morning  of  May  2.  As  the  light  of  dawn  came  into 
his  room,  Henry  George  sat  alone  with  his  eldest  son. 
He  said  that  he  had  for  some  time  felt  a  disaster  im- 
pending; that  now  it  had  come;  that  Herodotus,  in  his 
own  way  and  according  to  the  imagery  of  the  time,  had 
depicted  a  great  truth  in  the  story  of  Polycrates  the 
Tyrant  of  Samos  and  Aniasis  the  King  of  Egypt;  that 
it  was  not  in  the  order  of  things  for  men  to  have  un- 
broken prosperity;  that  evil  conies  mixed  with  good;  that 
life  is  a  strife;  that  there  are  defeats  as  well  as  victories 
— disappointments  as  well  as  triumphs.  Eealisiug  this, 
he  had  felt  that  of  late  years  he  had  had  too  much  good 
fortune;  that  success  had  crowded  upon  his  efforts;  that 
even  the  seeming  setbacks  had  turned  into  advancements. 
Just  within  a  few  days  a  draft  of  several  thousand  dol- 
lars had  come  from  England  as  the  first  part  of  a  bequest 
made  by  Silas  M.  Burroughs,  the  ardent  single  tax  friend, 
who  had  carried  on  a  large  drug  business  in  Great  Brit- 
ain and  her  colonies.  Mr.  Burroughs,  following  William 
Saunders  in  death,  had  bequeathed  to  Henry  George  a 
one  twenty-fourth  interest  in  his  estate.  This  filled  the 
cup  of  prosperity  full  to  overflowing,  so  that  Mr.  George 
had  come  to  look  for  a  reverse,  a  disaster — just  as  disas- 


588  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i897 

ters  come  to  other  men.  He  had  apprehended  that  he 
might  be  incapacitated  from  further  work  in  the  cause. 
But  the  blow  had  come  in  another  way. 

Though  this  death  was  the  first  break  in  the  family; 
though  it  came  like  a  knife  thrust  in  the  heart,  Henry 
George  showed  that  outward  cheer  and  courage  and 
thought  of  others  that  seldom  failed  him.  Even  in 
so  small  a  thing  as  sending  messages  to  friends,  he  waited 
until  the  little  telegraph  station  at  Fort  Hamilton  should 
open,  so  as  to  help  swell  the  business  of  the  woman  oper- 
ator there,  and  to  that  extent  increase  her  importance  and 
help  increase  her  pay. 

As  soon  as  they  learned  of  the  death,  the  intimate 
friends  hurried  to  Fort  Hamilton  to  pour  out  their  hearts' 
deep  but  scarcely  spoken  sympathy.  Mr.  George,  accom- 
panied by  one  of  his  sons,  went  to  Greenwood  Cemetery, 
not  far  from  Fort  Hamilton,  and  selected  a  spot  beside 
where  Tom  L.  Johnson's  father,  Colonel  A.  W.  Johnson, 
was  buried — just  over  the  crest  of  Ocean  Hill,  looking 
south  and  east  toward  the  Atlantic.  And  there  the  dear 
daughter  was  laid  on  a  radiant  spring  afternoon;  Dr 
McGlynn,  who  had  married  her  two  years  before,  now 
conducting  the  simple  burial  service. 

To  Thomas  F.  Walker,  Mr.  George  wrote:  "This  is  the 
bitter  part  of  life  that  we  had  not  tasted,  but  we  have 
nothing  but  beautiful  memories,  and  my  wife  and  I  have 
rallied  for  the  duties  that  life  still  brings."  Mr.  Mendel- 
son  wrote  and  quoted  the  words  of  a  German  song — "wenn 
Menschen  von  einander  gehn  so  sagen  sie  'auf  Wieder- 
sehn' " — "When  people  take  leave  of  each  other,  they  say, 
'To  see  you  again.' "  Mr.  George  replied :  "The  old  Ger- 
man song  you  quote  is  very  sweet.  But  it  really  goes 
back  to  the  year  1.  In  one  shape  or  another,  that  is  the 
constant  song  of  our  race." 


o 


-^  .3 


Age,  58]  DRAWING  UP  OF  WILLS  589 

Among  the  first  of  these  duties,  was,  they  believed,  that 
of  preparing  for  the  future,  for  the  duration  of  life  now 
seemed  most  uncertain.  Both  husband  and  wife  drew 
wills,  each  making  the  other  sole  beneficiary,  with  their 
two  sons  as  witnesses.  Besides  this  there  was  the  finish- 
ing of  the  house  then  being  built  to  see  to.  But  for  Mr. 
George,  the  chief  duty  was  to  complete  "The  Political 
Economy''  that  had  cost  him  so  much  more  hard  labour 
than  any  of  his  other  books.  So  again  he  settled  down 
quietly  to  writing. 

Mr.  George  had  divided  "The  Science  of  Political  Econ- 
omy" into  five  divisions  or  "books"  and  a  general  intro- 
duction, but,  as  with  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  its  final 
form  followed  many  changes  and  rearrangements.^ 

Once  or  twice  when  conscious  of  physical  weakness  he 
had  expressed  to  Mrs.  George  a  doubt  of  being  able  to 
hold  out  to  complete  the  work,  and  probably  it  was  this 
feeling    that    impelled    him    to    write    Chapter    VIII    of 

1  The  divisions  settled  upon  were  :  ' '  Book  I — The  Meaning  of  Political 
Economy";  "Book  II— The  Nature  of  Wealth";  "Book  III— The  Pro- 
duction of  Wealth  " ;  "  Book  IV— The  Distribution  of  Wealth";  "Book 
V— Money  :  The  Medium  of  Exchange  and  the  Measure  of  Value."  The 
last -three  books  were  largely  written  in  the  summer  of  1897,  but  were 
not  completed  at  the  time  of  Mr.  George's  death;  and  when  the  work  was 
published  as  it  had  been  left  by  his  hand,  many  critics  spoke  of  the  evi- 
dences of  declining  powers  in  the  last  three  divisions  and  especially  in  the 
broken  and  even  rough  places  in  the  part  on  money.  The  truth  is  that 
"  The  Science  of  Political  Economy"  as  posthumously  published  is  the 
best  example  that  can  be  found  of  Henry  George's  method  of  work;  for 
the  last  three  divisions  or  "  books  "  present  much  of  his  earlier  drafting 
of  the  general  work.  The  money  division  was  written  in  1894  and  1895, 
as  dates  on  the  rough-draft  manuscript  and  in  note-books  indicate.  The 
really  last  work  he  did  was  in  smoothing  and  polishing  the  first  two  di- 
visions, which  Dr.  Taylor  assured  him  were  equal  in  force,  clearness  and 
finish  to  his  earlier  liigh- water  performance  of  "  Progress  and  Poverty  "; 
and  in  this  opinion  his  own  judgment  concurred. 


590  LIFE   OF   HENRY  GEORGE  [i897 

Book  II,  entitled,  "Breakdown  of  Scholastic  Political 
Economy — Showing  the  Eeason,  the  EecejDtion  and  Effect 
on  Political  Economy  of  'Progress  and  Poverty.' "  This 
chapter  consists  of  nine  and  a  half  pages  treating  of  the 
history  of  "Progress  and  Poverty"  and  of  the  standing 
of  the  new  political  economy  it  represents.  No  person  save 
the  second  son,  who  was  asked  by  the  father  to  make  a 
copy  of  this  chapter,  saw  it  until  the  author's  decease, 
three  months  later,  and  there  can  be  small  doubt  that 
feeling  that  death  might  claim  him  at  any  time,  Henry 
George  deemed  it  necessary  to  take  this  means  of  making 
clear  to  the  world  certain  facts  relating  to  the  genesis  of 
his  writing  and  the  progress  and  standing  of  his  ideas. 

This  did  not  come  from  any  petty  sense  of  vanity,  but 
from  passionate  pride  in  and  zeal  to  press  forward  the 
cardinal  cause  with  which  the  very  fibres  of  his  nature 
were  interwoven.  He  had  long  thought  of  writing  an 
autobiography,  for  he  held  that  no  one  could  have  so  exact 
a  knowledge  of  essential  facts  as  the  subject  himself. 
This  he  had  looked  to  do  at  the  close  of  his  life.  But 
the  sudden  death  of  liis  daughter  and  his  own  recurring 
weakness  made  him  conscious  that  the  end  might  be 
nearer  than  would  be  compatible  with  such  a  plan,  so 
that  without  speaking  of  the  matter,  he  now  slipped  these 
autobiographical  notes  into  the  manuscript  of  his  big  book, 
and  he  quietly  put  in  order  his  more  important  papers, 
to  many  attaching  notes  and  dates.  He  also  more  freely 
than  ever  before  in  his  life  talked  of  his  personal  his- 
tory, and  in  the  household  and  to  immediate  friends,  in 
a  casual  way  told  of  past  scenes  with  a  candour  and  un- 
affectedness  that  left  lasting  impressions  on  the  listeners' 
ears.  Later  in  the  year,  just  after  he  had  entered  on 
his  last  campaign  against  the  solemn  warning  of  his  med- 
ical friends,  he  was  obviously  more  strongly  impressed 


Age,  58]  GEORGE'S  SUMMING  UP  591 

than  ever  with  the  necessity  of  making  autobiographical 
notes,  and  he  told  Ealph  Meeker,  a  newspaper  friend, 
who  had  a  stenographer  present  to  take  his  words  ver- 
batim, something  of  the  story  of  his  life. 

Henry  George's  final  view  of  the  effect  of  his  teachings 
on  the  orthodox  presentation  of  political  economy  he  set 
forth  in  the  "Progress  and  Poverty"  chapter  of  his  last 
work: 

"  'Progress  and  Poverty'  has  been,  in  short,  the  most 
successful  economic  work  ever  published.  Its  reason- 
ing has  never  been  successfully  assailed,  and  on  three 
continents  it  has  given  birth  to  movements  whose  prac- 
tical success  is  only  a  question  of  time.  Yet  though 
the  scholastic  political  economy  has  been  broken,  it  has 
not  be,en,  as  I  at  the  time  anticipated,  by  some  one  of 
its  professors  taking  up  what  I  had  pointed  out;  but  a 
new  and  utterly  incoherent  political  economy  has  taken 
its  place  in  the  schools. 

"Among  the  adherents  of  the  scholastic  economy, 
who  had  been  claiming  it  as  a  science,  there  had  been 
from  the  time  of  Smith  no  attempt  to  determine  what 
wealth  was;  no  attempt  to  say  what  constituted  prop- 
erty, and  no  attempt  to  make  the  laws  of  production 
or  distribution  correlate  and  agree,  until  there  thus 
burst  on  them  from  a  fresh  man,  without  either  the 
education  or  the  sanction  of  the  schools,  on  the  remot- 
est verge  of  civilisation,  a  reconstruction  of  the  science, 
that  began  to  make  its  way  and  command  attention. 
What  were  their  training  and  laborious  study  worth  if 
it  could  be  thus  ignored,  and  if  one  who  had  never 
seen  the  inside  of  a  college,  except  when  he  had  at- 
tempted to  teach  professors  the  fundamentals  of  their 
science,  whose  education  was  of  the  mere  common 
school  branches,  whose  alma  mater  had  been  the  fore- 
castle and  the  printing  office,  should  be  admitted  to 
prove  the  inconsistency  of  what  they  had  been  teaching 
as  a  science?  It  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  And  so 
while  a  few  of  these  professional  economists,  driven  to 


592  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [i897 

say  something  about  'Progress  and  Poverty/  resorted 
to  misrepresentation,  the  majority  preferred  to  rely 
upon  their  official  positions  in  which  they  were  secure 
by  the  interests  of  the  dominant  class,  and  to  treat  as 
beneath  contempt  a  book  circulating  by  thousands  in 
the  three  great  English-speaking  countries  and  trans- 
lated into  all  the  important  modern  languages.  Thus 
the  professors  of  political  economy  seemingly  rejected 
the  simple  teachings  of  'Progress  and  Poverty,'  re- 
frained from  meeting  with  disproof  or  argument  what  it 
had  laid  down,  and  treated  it  with  contemptuous  silence. 
"Had  these  teachers  of  the  schools  frankly  admitted 
the  changes  called  for  by  'Progress  and  Poverty,'  some- 
thing of  the  structure  on  which  they  built  might  have 
been  retained.  But  that  was  not  in  human  nature.  It 
would  not  have  been  merely  to  accept  a  new  man  with- 
out the  training  of  the  schools,  but  to  admit  that  the 
true  science  was  open  to  any  one  to  pursue,  and  could 
be  successfully  continued  only  on  the  basis  of  equal 
rights  and  privileges.  It  would  not  merely  have  made 
useless  so  much  of  the  knowledge  that  they  had  labor- 
iously attained,  and  was  their  title  to  distinction  and 
honour,  l)ut  would  have  converted  them  and  their  sci- 
ence into  opponents  of  the  tremendous  pecuniar}^  in- 
terests that  were  vitally  concerned  in  supporting  the 
justification  of  the  unjust  arrangements  which  gave 
them  power.  The  change  in  credence  that  this  would 
have  involved  would  have  been  the  most  revolutionary 
that  had  ever  been  made,  involving  a  far-reaching 
change  in  all  the  adjustments  of  society  such  as  had 
hardly  before  been  thought  of,  and  never  before  been 
accomplished  at  one  stroke;  for  the  abolition  of  chattel 
slavery  was  as  nothing  in  its  effect  as  compared  with 
the  far-reaching  character  of  the  abolition  of  private 
ownership  of  land.  Thus  the  professors  of  political 
economy,  having  the  sanction  and  support  of  the 
schools,  preferred,  and  naturally  preferred,  to  unite 
their  differences,  by  giving  what  had  before  been  in- 
sisted on  as  essential,  and  to  teach  what  was  an  incom- 
prehensible jargon  to  the  ordinary  man,  under  the  as- 


Age,  58]  PROFESSOES   ARRAIGNED  593 

sumption  of  teaching  an  occult  science,  which  required 
a  great  study  of  what  had  been  written  by  numerous 
learned  professors  all  over  the  world  and  a  knowledge 
of  foreign  languages.  So  the  scholastic  political  econ- 
omy, as  it  had  been  taught,  utterly  broke  down,  and, 
as  taught  in  the  schools,  tended  to  protectionism  and 
the  German,  and  to  the  assumption  that  it  was  a  recon- 
dite science  on  which  no  one  not  having  the  indorse- 
ment of  the  colleges  was  competent  to  speak,  and  on 
which  only  a  man  of  great  reading  and  learning  could 
express  an  opinion.     .     .     . 

"Such  inquiry  as  I  have  been  able  to  make  of  the 
recently  published  works  and  writings  of  the  authori- 
tative professors  of  the  science  has  convinced  me  that 
this  change  has  been  general  among  all  the  colleges, 
both  of  England  and  the  United  States.  So  general 
is  this  scholastic  utterance  that  it  may  now  be  said  that 
the  science  of  political  economy,  as  founded  by  Adam 
Smith  and  taught  authoritatively  in  1880,  has  now  been 
utterly  abandoned,  its  teachings  being  referred  to  as 
teachings  of  'the  classical  school'  of  political  economy, 
now  obsolete."^ 

But  to  turn  to  external  things.  As  early  as  June  began 
the  preliminary  rumbling  of  fall  politics.  Various  ru- 
mours were  afloat  that  Henry  George  was  to  be  asked  to 
run  as  an  independent  candidate  for  the  office  of  Mayor 

1  "The  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  pp.  203-208.  It  may  also  be 
said  that  Mr.  George  during  the  last  months  of  his  life  had  occasion  to 
reset  "Progress  and  Poverty"  for  new  electrotype  plates.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  very  large  controversial  literature  to  which  it  had  given  birth,  he 
Lad  found  no  reason  to  change  the  book  in  any  essential,  though  he  did 
make  some  alterations  respecting  syntax  and  punctuation,  cleared  the 
phraseology  of  the  plane  illustration  in  the  chapter  on  interest  and  the 
cause  of  interest,  and  made  a  distinction  between  patents  and  copyrights, 
condemning  the  former  and  justifying  the  latter — something  he  had 
not  formerly  done.  With  these  minor  exceptions,  the  book  was  reset 
identically  as  it  had  been  set  in  San  Francisco  in  1879,  notwithstanding 
the  battery  of  criticism  of  eighteen  years. 


594  LIFE   OF   HENRY   GEORGE  [1897 

of  the  Greater  New  York  which  had  just  been  formed 
by  the  absorption  of  Brooklyn  and  other  adjoining  mu- 
nicipalities, so  that  it  now  had  become  the  second  city  in 
the  world  in  respect  to  population.  Though  Mr.  George 
discouraged  the  idea  that  he  desired  to  run,  and  even  told 
a  number  of  his  friends  that  the  necessity  of  continuous 
work  on  the  book  and  his  physical  condition  would  not 
permit  him  to  run,  yet  only  those  closest  about  him  un- 
derstood his  real  condition  and  hundreds  and  thousands 
in  the  cause  beyond  were  urgent  for  his  candidacy.  Mr. 
George's  medical  adviser.  Dr.  Kelly,  hastened  to  warn 
him  against  the  ordeal  that  such  a  campaign  would  cer- 
tainly entail;  and  Dr.  M.  E.  Leverson,  a  neighbour  at 
Fort  Hamilton,  and  a  friend  since  the  California  days, 
set  down  some  notes  of  a  conversation  with  Mr.  George 
touching  the  matter: 

"One  afternoon,  after  talking  over  the  mayoralty 
subject,  we  went  for  a  walk  on  Shore  Eoad,  just  in 
front  of  his  house.  Mr.  George  was  convalescent  merely, 
indications  showing  to  the  physician  the  still  existant 
condition.  Continuing  the  conversation  commenced 
in  the  house,  Mr.  George  said  to  me : 

"  'Tell  me :  If  I  accept,  what  is  the  worst  that  can 
happen  to  me?' 

"I  answered:  'Since  you  ask,  you  have  a  right  to  be 
told.     It  will  most  probably  prove  fatal.' 

"He  said:  'You  mean  it  may  kill  me?' 

"  'Most  probably,  yes.' 

"  'Dr.  Kelly  says  the  same  thing,  only  more  posi- 
tively. But  I  have  got  to  die.  How  can  I  die  better 
than  serving  humanity  ?  Besides,  so  dying  will  do  more 
for  the  cause  than  anything  I  am  likely  to  be  able  to  do 
in  the  rest  of  my  life.' " 

To    another    medical    friend,    Dr.    Walter    Mendelson, 
brother-in-law  to  August  Lewis,  he  wrote  (September  30) 


Age,  58]  WARNED  OF  DANGER  595 

in  response  to  a  letter  of  friendly  warning:  "I  thank  you 
very  much  for  your  friendly  counsel.  I  shall  take  it, 
unless  as  I  can  see  it  duty  calls.  In  that  case  I  must 
obey.  After  all,  how  little  we  can  see  of  the  future. 
God  keep  you  and  yours." 

And  when  some  of  the  intimate  friends  came  to  Mrs. 
George  to  emphasize  the  danger  and  advise  her  to  influ- 
ence her  husband  to  desist,  she  answered : 

"When  I  was  a  much  younger  woman  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  help  my  husband  in  his 
work,  and  now  after  many  years  I  may  say  that  I  have 
never  once  crossed  him  in  what  he  has  seen  clearly  to 
be  his  duty.  Should  he  decide  to  enter  this  campaign 
I  shall  do  nothing  to  prevent  him;  but  shall,  on  the 
contrary,  do  all  I  can  to  strengthen  and  encourage 
him.  He  must  live  his  life  in  his  own  way  and  at 
whatever  sacrifice  his  sense  of  duty  requires;  and  I 
shall  give  him  all  I  can — devotion." 

• 

Some  of  the  friends,  anxious  for  his  safety  and  seeing 
that  he  was  not  to  be  frightened  off  by  the  condition  of 
his  health,  endeavoured  to  divert  him  in  another  way. 
They  appealed  to  his  sense  of  fitness,  saying  that  while  he 
was  pre-eminent  as  a  political  economist  and  as  a  teacher 
of  the  principles  of  democratic  government,  he  was  un- 
fitted by  temperament  and  training  for  the  laborious 
routine  and  multifarious  harassments  of  such  a  position, 
and  that  he  had  not  the  experience  such  as  made  most 
appropriate  the  candidature,  on  an  independent  Repub- 
lican ticket,  of  Seth  Low,  who  had  twice  been  Mayor  of 
Brooklyn,  and  who  had  since  held  with  distinction  the 
great  administrative  office  of  the  presidency  of  Columbia 
University,  one  of  the  largest  and  wealthiest  educational 
institutions  in  the  country,  if  not  in  the  world.  ]\Ir. 
George's  reply  was  that  there  might  be  many  men  fitted 


596  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEOEGE  [isoT 

to  make  better  executives  than  he;  but  that  sharing 
Thomas  Jefferson's  view,  that  democratic  government 
called  upon  the  people  not  to  select  men  best  qualified  to 
fill  public  office  so  much  as  to  select  men  best  qualified 
to  represent  popular  sentiment,  if  he  ran  for  the  may- 
oralty, it  would  not  be  because  he  thought  he  could  make 
a  better  executive  than  any  other  man,  but  that  he  would 
represent  certain  principles  that  those  who  put  him  for- 
ward would  wish  to  see  promoted. 

As  time  advanced  it  looked  as  though  the  Democratic 
ring  that  ruled  New  York  proposed  to  carry  the  election 
with  a  high  hand,  putting  up  for  its  mayoralty  candidate 
Judge  Eobert  Van  Wyck,  who  was  regarded  as  a  mere 
"machine"  man,  who  would  readily  lend  himself  to  the 
kind  of  rotten  politics  that  for  generations  had  made  the 
name  of  New  York  Democracy  a  reproach  to  all  the  coun- 
try. The  call  for  George  as  an  independent  candidate 
therefore  became  stronger  than  ever.  The  radical  ele- 
ment in  the  Democratic  party,  moreover,  appeared  to  be 
ready  to  rally  for  a  new  fight  against  the  plutocratic  pow- 
ers— the  Jeffersonian  forces  once  more  lining  up  before 
the  Hamiltonian  forces. 

Following  his  custom,  Mr.  George  called  a  meeting  of 
his  more  intimate  friends  early  in  October  for  consulta- 
tion. The  meeting  took  place  in  the  New  York  office  of 
the  Johnson  Company.  About  thirty  persons  were  pres- 
ent. It  was  a  mixed  company  and  much  advice  for  and 
against  the  fight  was  given,  to  all  of  which  Mr.  George 
listened  and  said  little,  except  to  cut  short  every  reference 
to  his  health  and  strength,  saying  that  the  sole  question 
to  consider  was  the  one  of  duty ;  and  to  reply  to  allusions 
relative  to  work  on  the  book  by  saying  that  the  essentials 
were  completed,  the  remainder  indicating,  should  any- 
thing befall  him,  the  direction  of  his  thought. 


Age,  58]  ENTERS  THE  LAST  FIGHT  597 

As  a  result  of  this  conference,  Mr.  George  decided  to 
make  the  fight,  and  the  moment  he  came  to  that  decision 
there  was  a  remarkable  change  in  his  condition.  A  new 
vigour  came  to  him.  He  had  but  one  other  person  to  con- 
sult with — his  wife — and  as  he  started  for  Fort  Hamil- 
ton to  talk  with  her,  a  new  vivacity  shone  in  his  face, 
a  spring  was  in  his  step,  and  he  softly  whistled  to  him- 
self in  the  old,  hopeful,  boyish  way;  all  unconscious  as 
he  passed  down  the  steps  from  the  Johnson  Company 
ofSce  and  out  into  the  street  that  he  almost  brushed 
against  Eichard  Croker,  the  political  boss  of  New  York, 
whose  misrule  he  should  denounce  almost  with  his  dying 
breath. 

When  he  reached  home,  Mr.  George  told  his  wife  of  the 
conference  with  the  friends  and  then  said: 

"Annie :  Remember  what  you  declared  Michael  Davitt 
should  do  at  the  time  of  the  Phoenix  Park  murders  in 
1882 — go  to  Dublin  and  be  with  his  people,  even  though 
it  should  cost  him  his  life.  I  told  you  then  that  I 
might  some  day  ask  you  to  remember  those  words.  I 
ask  you  now.  Will  you  fail  to  tell  me  to  go  into  this 
campaign?  The  people  want  me;  they  say  they  have 
no  one  else  upon  whom  they  can  unite.  It  is  more  than 
a  question  of  good  government.  If  I  enter  the  field  it 
will  be  a  question  of  natural  rights,  even  though  as 
mayor  I  might  not  directly  be  able  to  do  a  great  deal 
for  natural  rights.  New  York  will  become  the  theatre 
of  the  world  and  my  success  will  plunge  our  cause  into 
world  politics." 

Mrs.  George  answered:  "You  should  do  your  duty  at 
whatever  cost."     And  so  it  was  decided  that  he  should  run. 

Mr.  George's  prediction  as  to  the  change  his  candidacy 
would  make  in  the  character  of  the  campaign  was  verified 
at  once.     From  the  Tammany-Democracy  point  of  view 


598  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [i897 

the  issue  was  merely  a  "spoils-of-office"  one,  with  a  man 
for  a  figurehead  who  had  for  some  years  sat  upon  a  judi- 
cial bench,  but  who  outside  of  strictly  local  legal  circles 
was  scarcely  known.  The  Eepublican  party  had  set  up 
a  man  of  much  wider  name.  General  Benjamin  F.  Tracy, 
who  stood  high  at  the  bar  of  the  country  and  had  held  a 
portfolio  in  President  Harrison's  cabinet ;  but  who  scarcely 
less  than  the  Tammany  candidate  stood  for  "spoils." 
Each  was  put  forward  by  a  "machine"  and  each  was  domi- 
nated by  a  "boss."  JSTeither  stood  for  any  principle  that 
from  the  outside  country  could  claim  other  attention  than 
distrust  and  regret.  The  candidacy  of  President  Seth 
Low  of  Columbia  College  as  an  independent  Republican 
in  protest  against  corrupt  politics  awakened  widespread 
interest — an  interest  which  the  entrance  of  Henry  George 
at  the  head  of  a  regenerated  Democracy  broadened  and 
deepened. 

But  Henry  George's  appearance  brought  to  the  can- 
vass more  than  a  strengthening  of  the  fight  against  "ma- 
chine rule"  and  for  "pure  politics."  Besides  a  political 
contest,  it  became  a  social  struggle;  for  while,  even  if 
clothed  with  the  mayoralty  powers,  there  was  no  j)ossi- 
bility  of  his  doing  much  at  once  and  directly  to  improve 
economic  conditions,  his  victory  would  mean  that  social 
questions  had  found  a  strong  lodgment  in  the  body  politic 
and  must  soon  turn  the  larger,  potent  politics  to  its  ends. 
Eleven  years  had  passed  over  since  he  had  stood  for  the 
mayoralty  of  the  smaller  ISTew  York — eleven  years  full  of 
work  with  tongue  and  pen  to  spread  broadcast  through  the 
world  the  hope  of  and  faith  in  a  natural  order  that  would 
root  out  from  the  earth  want  and  suffering,  sin  and  crime. 
Those  who  had  heard  him  speak  had  multiplied  to  scores 
upon  scores  of  thousands  and  those  who  had  read  his  writ- 
ten message  had  swelled  to  millions.    Those  who  had  aban- 


Age,  58]  COOPER   UNION   SPEECH  599 

doned  old  beliefs  or  awakened  from  dull  despair  and 
claimed  his  optimistic  faith  and  called  him  leader  were 
among  all  nations  and  spoke  all  tongues.  Justice,  Liberty, 
Equality  were  the  watchwords;  where  his  banner  waved, 
there  for  them  was  the  thick  of  the  battle  to  make  life  for 
mankind  better  and  brighter.  For  that  reason  men  trav- 
elled from  distant  parts  of  the  country  to  participate  in 
this  mayoralty  campaign;  and  when  news  of  the  conflict 
was  brought,  fervent  words  of  God-speed  went  out  from 
responsive  hearts  across  the  wide  seas  in  England  and 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  in  Germany,  in  Ital}^,  in  far-away 
South  Africa  and  the  farther  still  antipodes;  in  the  cen- 
tres of  knowledge  and  on  the  frontiers  of  civilisation; 
even  in  those  remote  and  isolated  parts  of  the  world 
where  communication  is  slow  and  intelligence  of  the  can- 
didacy did  not  reach  until  after  death  had  intervened, 
like  starlight  that  for  a  time  continues  to  shine  on,  though 
the  orb  that  gave  it  has  ceased  to  be. 

The  canvass  opened  amid  intense  anxieties  for  those 
nearest  Mr.  George.  For  when  he  arose  in  crowded 
Cooper  Union  on  the  evening  of  October  5  to  accept  the 
nominations  of  several  political  organisations,  he  was  not 
as  he  had  been  eleven  j^ears  before — flushed  with  strength 
and  vigour — but  with  thin  body  and  ashen  face.  He  had 
almost  fainted  on  his  way  to  the  hall.  But  his  words 
had  the  old  ring  and  courage : 

"I  have  not  sought  this  nomination  directly  or  indi- 
rectly. It  has  been  repugnant  to  me.  My  line  lay  in 
a  different  path,  and  I  hoped  to  tread  it;  but  I  hold 
with  Thomas  Jefferson  that  while  a  citizen  who  can 
afford  to  should  not  seek  office,  no  man  can  ignore  the 
will  of  those  with  whom  he  stands  when  they  have 
asked  him  to  come  to  the  front  and  represent  a  prin- 
ciple. 


600  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1897 

"The  office  for  which  you  name  me  gives  me  no 
power  to  carry  out  in  full  my  views,  but  I  can  repre- 
sent the  men  who  thirtk  with  me — men  who  think  that 
all  men  are  created  equal;  and  whether  it  be  success  or 
failure  matters  nothing  to  me.  (A  shout:  'But  it's 
something  to  us!')  Aye,  something  to  all  of  us;  some- 
thing to  our  friends  and  relatives  in  far  off  lands; 
something  for  the  future,  something  for  the  world. 
(Cheers.)  To  make  the  fight  is  honour,  whether  it  be 
for  success  or  failure.  To  do  the  deed  is  its  own  re- 
ward. You  know  w^hat  I  think  and  what  I  stand 
for.     .     .     . 

"A  little  while  ago  it  looked  to  me  at  least  that  the  de- 
feat that  the  trusts,  the  rings  and  money  power,  grasping 
the  vote  of  the  people,  had  inflicted  on  William  Jen- 
nings Bryan  (applause)  was  the  defeat  of  everything  for 
which  the  fathers  had  stood,  of  everything  that  makes 
this  country  so  loved  by  us,  so  hopeful  for  the  future.  It 
looked  to  me  as  though  Hamilton  had  triumphed  at 
last,  and  that  w^e  were  fast  verging  upon  a  virtual  aris- 
tocracy and  despotism.  You  ask  me  to  raise  the  stand- 
ard again  (applause);  to  stand  for  that  great  cause; 
to  stand  as  Jefferson  stood  in  the  civil  revolution  in 
1800.  I  accept.  (Applause.  Three  cheers  for  Henry 
George  were  called  for  and  given  with  cries  of  'And 
you  will  be  elected,  too!') 

"I  believe  I  shall  be  elected.  (Applause.)  I  believe, 
I  have  always  believed,  that  last  year  many  so-called 
Democrats  fooled  with  the  principles  of  the  Chicago 
platform,  but  that  there  was  a  power,  the  power  that 
Jefferson  invoked  in  1800,  that  would  cast  aside  like 
chaff  all  that  encumbered  and  held  it  down;  that  unto 
the  common  people,  the  honest  democracy,  the  democ- 
■  racy  that  believes  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  would 
come  a  power  that  would  revivify,  not  merely  this  im- 
perial city,  not  merely  the  State,  not  merely  the  coun- 
try, but  the  world.      (Vociferous  applause.) 

"No  greater  honour  can  be  given  to  any  man  than 
to  stand  for  all  that.  No  greater  service  can  he  render 
to  his  day  and  generation  than  to  lay  at  its  feet  what- 


Age,  58]  THE  CALL  OF  DUTY  601 

ever  he  has.  I  would  not  refuse  if  I  died  for  it.  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

"What  counts  a  few  years?  What  can  a  man  do 
better  or  nobler  than  something  for  his  country,  for  his 
nation,  for  his  age? 

"Gentlemen,  fellow  Democrats,  I  accept  your  nomi- 
nation (applause)  without  wavering  or  turning, 
whether  those  who  stand  with  me  be  few  or  many. 
From  henceforward  I  am  your  candidate  for  the  May- 
oralty of  Greater  Kew  York." 

Thus  Henry  George  bravely  spoke,  but  his  words  at 
times  were  low  and  slow,  and  only  the  few  who  crowded 
about  him  at  the  end  and  were  with  him  until  he  left 
the  hall  realised  the  great  physical  effort  he  had  made. 
They  said  little,  but  affection  held  them  close  about  him 
like  a  bodyguard  to  save  him  every  step,  every  effort, 
possible. 

Thus  commenced  the  campaign  to  be  closed  on  Novem- 
ber 2,  a  little  over  three  weeks  off.  They  were  three 
weeks  of  happiness  for  Henry  George.  The  breath  of 
battle  had  entered  into  his  nostrils,  and  when  occasion 
called,  roused  to  something  like  former  strength  his  lion's 
soul.  He  had  seriously  agreed  at  the  outset  that  he 
would  make  only  three,  four  or  five  speeches  during  the 
whole  canvass;  but  soon  he  had  swept  this  aside  as  an 
idle  resolve,  until,  by  his  own  will,  he  was  speaking  at 
three,  four  and  five  meetings  every  night,  more,  prob- 
ably than  the  other  three  candidates  put  together. 

The  new  party  called  itself  "The  Party  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,"  a  name  suggested  by  Mr.  George,  as  opposed 
to  the  name  of  "Democratic  Party,"  which  Tammany  had 
degraded.  It  had  headquarters  in  the  Union  Square 
Hotel,  beside  the  old  "Standard"  office.  The  party  had 
none  of  the  machinery  of  organisation  that  professional 


G02  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1897 

politicians  believe  essential,  but  it  bad  the  intense,  almost 
religious,  enthusiasm  that  makes  up  for  organisation. 
Tom  L.  Johnson,  August  Lewis  and  John  K.  Waters  made 
liberal  contributions  towards  what  there  was  of  a  fund 
for  legitimate  campaign  expenses,  and  small  sums  were 
collected  at  some  of  the  meetings  and  came  from  other 
minor  sources.  Against  the  wishes  of  his  friends  who 
thought  he  should  keep  it  all  for  his  personal  maintenance, 
Mr.  George  turned  over  some  of  the  money  from  the  Bur- 
roughs bequest  towards  this  purpose.  But  all  told  the 
fund  was  ridiculously  small  in  comparison  with  the  other 
party  funds.  It  sufficed,  however,  as  there  were  no  cam- 
paign trappings  and  with  but  few  exceptions,  the  host  of 
speakers  paid  their  own  expenses. 

Willis  J.  Abbott,  prominent  in  N"ew  York  and  Chicago 
daily  journalism  and  author  of  several  popular  histories, 
was  chairman  of  the  campaign  committee.  Tom  L.  John- 
son, being  a  citizen  of  another  State,  could  not  properly 
be  one  of  the  committee.  Nevertheless,  he  was  too  deeply 
interested  to  be  inactive,  and  he  was  consulted  in  every- 
thing, letting  his  own  private  affairs  take  care  of  them- 
selves. And  August  Lewis,  who  at  the  outset  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  of  taking  a  personal  part  in  the  fight, 
quickly  got  into  the  very  thick  of  it  and  became  treasurer 
of  the  committee.  These  were  the  two  men  to  whom 
Henry  George  had  dedicated  his  yet  unfinished  book,  and 
love  for  the  man  and  devotion  to  his  cause  and  their  cause 
held  them  close  beside  him  in  this  crisis. 

The  committee  was  composed  of  men  schooled  in  the 
art  of  politics,  yet  as  one  of  them  said  to  Arthur  McEwen, 
one  of  the  intimate  friends:  "How  it  is  I  don't  know, 
but  every  move  we  have  made  in  politics  against  George's 
advice  we  have  been  wrong,  and  every  time  we  have  fol- 
lowed his  advice  we  have  come  out  right.     We  all  think 


l\.p^r„jl,Uil,  ScUaiJnrr,  1897. 

Lust  2»li»tograph  taken,  October,  1897. 


Age,  58]  TRUE   TO   THE   END  603 

we  know  more  about  the  ins  and  outs  of  the  game  than 
he  does,  but  he  has  a  sort  of  instinct  that  guides  him 
straight." 

The  friends  shielded  him  from  work  as  much  as  they 
could.  August  Lewis  lived  in  the  neighbourhood.  Every 
day  he  took  Mr.  George  off  there  to  lunch,  gently  compel- 
ling him  afterward  to  take  a  little  rest.  And  it  was  in 
intervals  of  relaxation  that  Mr.  George  on  invitation  sat 
for  his  portrait  in  four  different  photograph  galleries.^ 
There  was  not  time  for  much  correspondence,  but  one 
letter  that  Mr.  George  found  opportunity  to  write  reveals 
the  man.  Eev.  E.  Heber  Newton,  the  boyhood  friend, 
had  written  words  of  God-speed,  but  said  that  in  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  he  must  vote  for  Low.  Mr.  George 
answered    (October  23)  : 

"Dear  Heber:  Thanks  for  your  advice  and  counsel. 
We  have  been  wiser  than  you  at  this  time  thought. 
But  this  makes  no  matter.  Vote  for  Low  or  vote  for 
me,  as  you  may  Judge  best.  I  shall  in  any  event,  be 
true.  What  doth  it  profit  a  man  to  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?" 

Mr.  George  was  confident  of  success,  but  showed  only 
flashes  of  enthusiasm,  which  Mrs.  George  noticed  and 
spoke  of  to  him.  "No,"  he  answered;  "little  of  the  old- 
time  enthusiasm.  Perhaps  it  is  that  with  success,  such 
as  has  come  to  our  cause,  the  mind  advances  to  the  con- 
templation of  other  things." 

One  night — a  raw  night,  towards  the  end — after  he 
had  come  in  from  speaking,  he  left  the  hotel  again  with 
Edward  McHugh  to  look  at  one  of  the  fruits  of  our  one- 
sided civilisation — a  long  line  of  decent-looking  men 
standing  before  a  Broadway  bakery,  silently  waiting  for 

1  Schaidner's,  Prince's,  See  &  Eppler's,  aiul  Rockwood's. 


604  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [.897 

a  customary  midnight  dispensing  of  stale  loaves  of  bread. 
Mr.  George  said  little,  but  that  little  showed  a  full  heart. 

And  then  came  the  last  night — Thursday,  October  28 
— five  days  before  election.  Five  speeches  had  been 
planned,  but  the  places  were  so  far  apart  that  the  last  had 
to  be  declared  off,  and  as  it  was  Mr.  George  did  not  get 
back  to  headquarters  till  near  midnight. 

Mrs.  George,  whom  he  now  wanted  near  him  at  all 
times,  had  attended  every  meeting  and  was  as  usual  with 
him  this  night,  as  also  was  his  brother,  John  V.  George. 
The  first  meeting  was  at  Whitestone,  Long  Island,  where 
he  showed  signs  of  weariness.  But  his  sentences  were 
clear,  his  words  well  chosen  and  his  sentiments  direct 
and  strong. 


"What  I  stand  for  and  what  my  labour  has  been,  I 
think  you  know.  I  have  laboured  many  years  to  make 
the  great  truths  known,  and  they  are  written  down  in 
the  books.  What  I  stand  for  is  the  principle  of  true 
Democracy,  the  truth  that  comes  from  the  spirit  of 
the  plain  people  and  was  given  to  us  and  is  embodied 
in  the  philosophy  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  The  Democ- 
racy of  Jefferson  is  simple  and  good,  and  sums  up  the 
majesty  of  human  rights  and  the  boundaries  of  govern- 
ment by  the  people.     .     .     . 

"Slowly  but  surely  the  Democracy  of  Jefferson  has 
been  strayed  from,  has  been  forgotten  by  the  men  who 
were,  by  its  name,  given  office  and  power  among  the 
people.  Error  and  wrong  have  been  called  by  the  name 
of  the  truth,  and  the  harvest  of  wrong  is  upon  this 
land.  There  are  bosses  and  trusts  and  sumptuary  laws. 
Labour-saving  machinery  has  been  turned  like  captured 
cannon,  against  the  ranks  of  labovir,  until  labour  is 
pressed  to  earth  under  the  burden ! 

"And  must  no  one  rise  up  in  the  land  of  liberty 
when  labour  must  humbly  seek,  as  a  boon,  the  right  to 
labour  ?'' 


Age,  58]  EQUAL   RIGHTS   FOR   ALL   MEN  605 

In  Turner  Hall,  College  Point,  Mr.  George  next  spoke. 
There  was  a  large  audience,  mostly  of  working  men,  and 
he  was  introduced  as  "the  great  friend  of  labour  and 
Democracy."     His  first  utterance  was  one  of  dissent: 

"I  have  never  claimed  to  be  a  special  friend  of  labour. 
Let  us  have  done  with  this  call  for  special  privileges 
for  labour.  Labour  does  not  want  special  privileges. 
I  have  never  advocated  nor  asked  for  special  rights  or 
special  sympathy  for  working  men! 

"What  I  stand  for  is  the  equal  rights  of  all  men!" 

Long  and  loud  cheers  showed  that  the  speaker's  senti- 
ments found  instant  echo  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers. 
The  third  speech  was  in  the  Town  Hall  at  Flushing. 
Dan  Beard,  the  artist,  was  in  the  chair.  He  relates  this 
incident : 

"I  escorted  Mr.  George  from  the  reception  room  to 
the  stage  and  bowed  to  the  audience,  as  the  only  way 
that  the  applause  would  permit  me  to  introduce  him. 
Mr.  George  took  a  few  steps,  faced  the  side  of  the 
stage,  looked  upward  for  a  moment,  and  raising  his 
right  hand  as  if  addressing  some  one  overhead,  said: 
'Time  and  tide  wait  for  no  man.'  His  arm  fell  to  his 
side,  his  head  fell  forward,  the  chin  on  the  breast,  and 
he  stood  as  if  lost  in  thought.  Presently  he  roused, 
turned  to  the  audience  and  said:  'I  have  only  time  to 
come,  take  a  look  at  you  and  go  away,' " 

In  this  speech  Mr.  George  said: 

"Let  me  say  a  word  about  Mr.  Low.  On  election 
day  as  between  Mr.  Low  and  myself,  if  you  are  yet  un- 
decided, you  must  vote  for  whom  you  please.  I  shall 
not  attempt  to  dictate  to  you.  I  do  entertain  the  hope, 
however,  that  you  will  rebuke  the  one-man  power  by 
not  voting  for  the  candidate  of  the  bosses.     I  am  not 


606  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORaE  [1897 

with  Low.  He  is  a  Eepublican  and  is  fighting  the 
machine,  which  is  all  very  good  as  far  as  it  goes.  But 
he  is  an  aristocratic  reformer;  I  am  a  democratic  re- 
former. He  would  help  the  people;  I  would  help  the 
people  to  help  themselves." 

Many  surged  after  Mr.  George  as  he  left  the  hall  with 
his  wife  and  his  brother.  Nearest  of  all  to  them  was  a 
poor,  but  neat,  old  woman,  pale  with  emotion  or  ill  health, 
who  in  low  tones  said  and  many  times  repeated:  "God 
bless  you !  God  bless  you,  Henry  George !  You  are  a 
good  man."  Presently  Mr.  George  noticed  the  voice,  and 
turning,  said  reverently:  "And  may  God  bless  you,  too; 
you  must  be  a  good  woman  to  ask  God  to  bless  me."  In 
a  moment  more  there  was  a  movement  towards  the  car- 
riage and  the  woman  was  lost  in  the  throng. 

On  the  way  to  the  last  meeting  in  the  Central  Opera 
House,  'New  York  proper,  the  candidate  showed  great 
weariness  and  climbed  the  stairs  with  evident  labour.  It 
was  close  to  eleven  o'clock  when  he  arose  to  speak  and 
a  large  part  of  the  audience  that  had  left  the  hall  and 
got  into  the  street  to  go  home  crowded  back  again.  But 
while  in  the  former  speeches  that  evening,  especially  in 
the  one  at  Flushing,  he  spoke  with  clearness  and  con- 
tinuity, this  last  speech  was  disconnected  and  rambling. 
The  contrast  was  marked  to  Mrs.  George  and  the  brother. 
But  Mr.  George  spoke  only  briefly  and  then  the  party 
took  carriage  for  the  Union  Square  Hotel,  where  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  George  were  to  sleep. 

It  was  nearly  midnight  when  the  Georges  and  such  of 
the  friends  who  still  lingered  about  the  headquarters — 
ten  in  all — went  to  the  hotel  dining-room  for  a  little  sup- 
per. Mr.  George  had  for  several  weeks  been  eating  spar- 
ingly, breakfast  being  the  largest  meal.  At  half  past  five 
that  evening,  before  starting  on  his  speaking  engagements. 


Age,  58]  DEATH  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  607 

he  had  taken  a  little  soup  and  toast,  and  some  weak  tea. 
At  the  midnight  supper  he  had  a  few  small  oysters  and  a 
glass  of  milk.  Some  of  the  friends  spoke  of  the  pallor 
and  extreme  fatigue  showing  in  Mr.  George's  face.  E'ev- 
ertheless,  after  the  liglit  supper  he  seemed  to  take  comfort 
from  a  cigar.  Before  retiring  he  complained  to  his  wife 
of  a  slight  feeling  of  indigestion,  and  she  waked  in  the 
early  morning  hours  to  find  that  he  had  arisen  from  his 
bed.  She  called  and  he  answered  that  he  was  well,  but 
he  did  not  return  to  bed.  After  a  time  she  arose  and 
found  him  in  an  adjoining  room  of  their  suite.  He  was 
standing,  one  hand  on  a  chair,  as  if  to  support  himself. 
His  face  was  white;  his  body  rigid  like  a  statue;  his 
shoulders  thrown  back,  his  head  up,  his  eyes  wide  open 
and  penetrating,  as  if  they  saw  something;  and  one  word 
came — "Yes" — many  times  repeated,  at  first  with  a  quiet 
emphasis,  then  with  the  vigour  of  his  heart's  force,  sink- 
ing to  softness  as  Mrs.  George  gently  drew  him  back  to 
his  couch.  He  moved  mechanically  and  awkwardly,  as 
though  his  mind  was  intently  engaged,  and  little  con- 
scious of  things  about  him. 

The  elder  son,  the  only  other  member  of  the  family  in 
the  hotel,  was  called,  and  then  Dr.  Kelly  and  Mr.  Lewis 
and  Mr.  Johnson,  who  lived  close  at  hand.  Mr.  George 
was  entirely  unconscious  when  Dr.  Kelly  arrived.  A 
stroke  of  apoplexy  had  fallen.  The  great  heart  had  worn 
out  the  physical  body,  and  a  thread  in  the  brain  had 
snapped.  The  physician's  sympathy  went  out  to  the  wife, 
and  then  in  utter  helplessness  he  cast  himself  face  down- 
ward upon  the  floor.  For  at  that  moment  Henry  George's 
spirit  was  answering  the  call  of  the  All-Father. 

With  tears  and  fierce  resolution  his  party  companions 
vowed  to  push  on  with  the  contest.     They  put  forward 


608  LIFE  OF   HENRY  GEOEGE  [1397 

the  dead  man's  oldest  son  and  namesake  to  carry  the  cam- 
paign banner;  but  the  son  drew  only  the  votes  that  his 
unknown   and   untried   personality   could   command. 

Beyond  party  lines,  Henry  George's  fellow-men  gave 
him  the  acknowledgment  he  had  said  would  come  when 
he  was  dead.  He  had  made  his  fight  the  theatre  of  the 
world,  and  messages  poured  in  not  merel}^  from  neigh- 
bouring cities  and  all  parts  of  the  nation,  but  from  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany  and  Denmark,  from  Africa, 
Australia,  Japan  and  China  to  lay  garlands  of  tribute  on 
his  bier.  To  the  watching  world  he  had  fought  the 
greatest  of  battles  and  won  the  supremest  of  victories:  he 
had  risked  and  met  death  to  proclaim  justice.  "To-day," 
they  said,  "the  earth  loses  an  honest  man."  The  jDress 
far  and  wide  rang  with  encomiums.  "He  was  a  tribune 
of  the  people,"  said  a  city  paper  not  of  his  camp — "poor 
for  their  sake  when  he  might  have  been  rich  by  mere  com- 
promising; without  official  position  for  their  sake  when 
he  might  have  had  high  offices  by  merely  yielding  a  part 
of  his  convictions  to  expediency.  All  his  life  long  he 
spoke,  and  wrote,  and  thought,  and  prayed,  and  dreamed 
of  one  thing  only — the  cause  of  the  plain  people  against 
corruption  and  despotism.  And  he  died  with  his  armour 
on,  with  his  sword  flashing,  in  the  front  of  the  battle, 
scaling  the  breastworks  of  intrenched  corruption  and  des- 
potism. He  died  as  he  lived.  He  died  a  hero's  death. 
He  died  as  he  would  have  wished  to  die — on  the  battle- 
field, spending  his  last  strength  in  a  blow  at  the  enemies 
of  the  people.  Fearless,  honest,  unsullied,  uncompromis- 
ing Henry  George!"  Said  a  paper  of  another  faction: 
"Stricken  down  in  the  moment  of  supremest  confidence, 
Henry  George,  the  idol  of  his  people,  is  dead.  He  was 
more  than  a  candidate  for  office,  more  than  a  politician, 
more  than  a  statesman.     He  was  a  thinker  whose  work 


Age,  58]  LYING  IN  STATE  609 

belongs  to  the  world's  literature.  His  death  has  carried 
mourning  into  every  civilised  country  on  the  globe.  As 
a  thinker,  a  philosopher,  a  writer,  he  was  great;  but  he 
was  greatest  as  an  apostle  of  the  truth  as  he  saw  it — an 
evangelist,  carrying  the  doctrines  of  justice  and  brother- 
hood to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth." 

While  the  press  of  the  world  hailed  this  man's  name, 
the  pulpit,  trade  union  meetings,  gatherings  of  the  unlet- 
tered, councils  of  the  learned,  in  many  nations  and  many 
tongues,  sounded  praises  of  his  purity  of  heart  and  the 
greatness  of  his  purpose;  while  in  his  own  city  came 
the  unkno^wTi  and  forlorn  and  wretched  to  gaze  wistfully 
into  the  casket  and  burst  into  tears  at  this  last  glimpse 
of  him  whom  they  instinctively  felt  to  be  their  champion. 

All  day  Sunday  the  body  lay  in  state  in  the  Grand 
Central  Palace,  with  the  bronze  bust  executed  by  the  son 
Eichard  looking  down  upon  the  bier.  From  early  morn- 
ing old  and  young,  poor  and  rich,  jjassed  to  take  a  silent 
farewell.  "Never  for  statesman  or  soldier,"  said  one  of 
the  press,  "was  there  so  remarkable  a  demonstration  of 
popular  feeling.  At  least  one  hundred  thousand  persons 
passed  before  his  bier  and  another  hundred  thousand  were 
prevented  from  doing  so  only  by  the  impossibility  of  get- 
ting near  it.  Unconsciously  they  vindicated  over  his  dead 
body  the  truth  of  the  great  idea  to  which  his  life  was 
devoted,  the  brotherhood  of  man." 

And  in  the  afternoon,  with  doors  closed  and  the  great 
hall  thronged  to  the  last  possible  inmate,  occurred  the  sim- 
ple but  majestic  public  services,  as  catholic  as  his  own  broad 
religion.  Voices  from  Plymouth's  Congregational  choir 
sang  the  solemn  hymns;  Dr.  Hebcr  Newton  read  from  the 
beautiful  ritual  that  as  boys  he  and  the  dead  man  had 
listened  to  eacli  Sunday  in  old  St.  Paul's  in  Philadelphia ; 
Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  recounted  the  peerless  courage,  Eabbi 


610  LIFE  OF  HENRY  GEORGE  [1897 

Gottheil  the  ai:tcient  wisdom,  Dr.  McGlynn  the  pulsing 
sympathy  and  John  S.  Crosby  the  civic  virtue  of  the  great 
heart  lying  silent  in  their  centre,  till  strong  feeling  rent 
the  funeral  hush  and  cheers  burst  from  smothering 
bosoms. 

As  night  descended  the  long  funeral  procession  moved. 
In  advance  a  volunteer  band  alternated  the  requiem 
throb  of  Chopin's  "Funeral  March"  with  the  Marseillaise' 
exultant  "March  on  to  Victory !"  Then  followed  the 
mortal  remains,  mounted  high  upon  a  draped  and  gar- 
landed funeral  car,  drawn  by  a  double  line  of  led  horses. 
Behind  came  the  vast,  winding  column  of  those,  riding 
and  walking,  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  distinguished 
and  unknov/n,  who  wished  to  pay  homage  to  the  dead 
man's  worth  and  high-born  principles — moving  along 
without  pomp  or  demonstration,  save  only  the  fluttering 
of  occasional  trade  union  banners.  Chief  in  the  multi- 
tude were  such  as  had  personally  known  and  talked  with 
Henry  George,  w^ho  had  accepted  his  teachings  and  were 
counted  among  the  faithful.  Now  in  the  closing  drama 
they  followed  their  friend  and  leader,  so  eloquent  in 
death  that  all  the  world  seemed  to  reverence — gathering 
each  present  shifting  scene,  each  past  look  and  word,  to 
leave  as  a  priceless  heritage  to  their  furthermost  posterity. 

Night  deepened  and  the  great  city's  lights  shone  out 
as  the  funeral  concourse  moved  on  through  the  people- 
lined  avenues,  heads  uncovering  and  eyes  glistening  as 
the  funeral  car  rolled  by.  There  was  a  halt  for  a  silent 
moment  before  the  hushed  and  darkened  City  Hall,  where 
perhaps  had  he  lived  Henry  George  may  have  sat  as  chief 
magistrate;  thence  the  procession  crossed  the  bridge  to 
the  Brooklyn  City  Hall,  where  the  cortege  was  disbanded 
and  the  casket  given  to  the  relatives.  "The  world  yester- 
day paid  the  highest  tribute,  perhaps,  it  has  ever  paid  to 


Age,  58]  THE  LAST   SCENE  611 

the  quality  of  sincerity,"  v.^ere  the  words  of  an  opposing 
party  paper. 

Next  morning — Monday,  November  1,  1897 — with  the 
light  streaming  in  on  the  home  at  Fort  Hamilton,  two 
Episcopal  divines — George  Latimer,  the  cousin,  and  John 
W.  Kramer,  the  friend — read  the  service  of  their  Church, 
after  which  Dr.  McGlynn  testified  to  their  dear  one's 
inspiring  faith  in  immortality.  Then  the  relatives  and 
intimates  bore  the  body  to  Greenwood  and  lowered  it  at 
the  chosen  spot  on  the  hill-crest,  beside  the  beloved  daugh- 
ter. All  was  enveloped  in  the  soft  grey  light  of  an  au- 
tumn day,  and  beyond  to  the  south  lay  the  shimmering 
Atlantic. 

On  the  stone  that  his  fellow-citizens  soon  raised  there 
are  fixed  in  metal  letters  these  words  from  Henry  George's 
first  great  book — words  to  which,  after  long  years  of 
labour,  he  bore  final  testimony  with  his  life : 

"The  truth  that  I  have  tried  to  make  clear 
will  not  find  easy  acceptance.  If  that  could  he, 
it  would  have  been  accepted  long  ago.  If  that 
could  he,  it  would  never  have  heen  obscured.  But 
it  will  find  friends — those  who  ivill  toil  for  it; 
suffer  for  it;  if  need  he,  die  for  it.  This  is  the 
power  of  Truth." 


INDEX 


Abt)ot,  Willis  J.,  laet  campaign,  602. 

Abbott,  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman,  address  at 
G's  funeral,  609. 

Abelard  and  Heloise,  260. 

Abstraction.    See  Preoccupation. 

Accidents,  suffocation,  205;  horses, 
214,' 251. 

Adams,  Charles  Fred.,  Free  Soil 
Society,  406  ;  poor  speaking  anec- 
dote, 443;  first  mayoralty  cam- 
paign, 460;  Chicago  strike  meeting, 
577. 

Adelaide,  S.  A.,  visit  to,  533,  536. 

"  Advertiser,"  Boston,  381. 

Affectation,  absence  of,  309-310,  325, 
426. 

AflTection,  shown  by  fi-iends,  61,  73- 
74,  305-309  ;  by  G.,  54-55,  412-413, 546. 

Air,  private  property  in,  517-518. 

Alabama,  blockade  runnel",  169. 

Alabama,  secession  of,  108. 

Alexander,  Charles  W.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 9. 

Allingham,  mayor  of  Waterford, 
438. 

"Alta  California,"  San  Francisco, 
161-166,  324,  397. 

Altgeld,  Gov.  J.  P.,  of  Illinois,  577. 

Ambition,  guards  against,  507,  530- 
531,  551. 

"  American  Commonwealth,"  the 
cat  and,  454. 

"American  Flag,"  144. 

American  Press  Association,  211-213. 

Anarchists,  Chicago,  498,  500-502. 

Anderson,  Stephen,  37-38. 

Animals,  fondness  for,  36-37,  448,  454, 
546. 

Anti-Coolie  Party,  288. 

Anti-Poverty  Society,  organization, 
491;  principles,  491-492;  officers, 
492;  first  meeting,  492;  growth  and 
work,  492-493,  499-500;  Dr.  Mc- 
Glynn  and,  492-495,  506,  560 ;  Cath- 
olic hierarchy  and,  493-495;  split 
in,  506;  Salvation  Army  and,  539- 
540. 

"  A  Perplexed  Philosopher."  See 
Works. 

Aphasia,  stroke  of  and  recovery 
from,  541-545,  567. 

Apoplexy,  cause  of  G's  death,  607. 

Appearance,  personal,  G's,  6,  50,  53- 
54,  84,  119,  121,  174,  242,  246,  250,  268, 


269, 296,  301,  337-338,  342,  402, 440,  444, 
502,  549,  599.  605,  607;  carelessness 
of,  78,  81,  250,  303,  304,  553-554. 

Appleton,  D.,  &  Co.  and  "Progress 
and  Poverty,"  315-316,  321-322,  325- 
326,  331,  333,  342-353. 

Appleton,  George  S.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 5 

Appleton,  William  H.,  of  D.,  &  Co., 
335,  336,  396,  427. 

"  Appletons'  Journal,"  345,  349. 

"Arabian  Nights,"  fascination  of, 
253. 

Archibald,  James  P.,  of  New  York, 
461. 

Archy  case,  decision  in,  97. 

"Arena,"  article,  "Henry  George: 
A  Study  from  Life,"  245. 

Argyll.  Duke  of,  receives  "Progress 
and  Poverty,"  323 ;  attack  and  re- 
ply, 444-447. 

Army,  abolition  of  privilege  in,  176 ; 
against  standing.  577. 

Arnold,  Edwin,  549. 

Arnoux,  Justice,  of  New  York,  400. 

Arrests,  G's,  in  Ireland,  392-395. 

Asbury,  Samuel,  &  Co.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 10. 

Assembly  of  California,  aspiration 
for,  206,  218. 

Associated  Press,  fight  against,  12", 
180-lHl,  183-186,  211-213. 

Atkinson,  Henry  George,  son  of 
William  J.,  587. 

Atkinson,  Jennie  T.,  wife  of  William 
J.    See  George,  Jennie  T. 

Atkinson,  William  J.,  marries  G's 
daughter,  Jennie,  559;  circulates 
"Protection  or  Free  Trade."  571- 
572. 

"Atlantic  Monthly,"  340. 

Auckland,  visit  to,  528-529. 

Austin,  Joseph,  of  San  Francisco, 
244. 

Australia,  fascination  of,  19, 522-523 ; 
first  visit,  29-33 ;  lectiu-e  trip,  522- 
542 ;  South,  visit,  532-533  ;  first  in 
single  tax  policy,  533, 536  ;  Western, 
visit,  532  ;  ballot  system,  adoption 
advocated,  235,  404,  483-484,  522- 
523,  529-530. 

Authority,  respect  for,  169, 196,  325. 

Autobiography,  intentions  regard- 
ing, 589-593. 


613 


614 


INDEX 


Ballot.  See  Australian  ballot  sys- 
tem. 

Baltimore  Convention,  delegate,  239- 
240. 

Baltimore  riots,  290. 

Barbadoes,  visit,  62. 

Barnes,  Gaybert,  of  New  York,  456, 
459,  505-506,  512-513. 

Barnum,  P.  T.,  lln. 

Barry,  Jolm,  of  San  Francisco,  166, 
205n. 

Barstow, ,  of  San  Francisco,  152. 

Bausman,  William,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 174, 175. 

Beale,  Gen.,  of  California,  324-325. 

Beard,  Dan,  of  New  York,  605. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  454. 

"  Bee,  Sacramento,"  173,  264-265,  324. 

Beeclier,  Rev.  Henry  Ward,  350,  400. 

Beggars,  G.  and,  527. 

Belian,  Father,  of  Dublin,  398-399. 

Belford,  Clarke  &  Co.,  publish  "So- 
cial Problems,"  410. 

Benham,  Anson  C,  of  San  Francisco, 
109. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  484. 

Bequest,  by  Francis  G.  Shaw,  403 ; 
by  George  Hutchius,  509-511 ;  by  S. 
M.  Burroughs,  587. 

Berazai  restaiu'aut,  dinners  at,  407. 

Berens,  Louis  H.,  author  of  "The 
Story  of  my  Dictatorship,"  533. 

Bermuda,  visit  to,  542,  543,  545,  549. 

Besant,  Walter,  370. 

Bicycle  riding,  543-544,  545-546. 

Bigelow,  Poultney,  of  New  York, 
351. 

Bigler,  Ex-Governor,  of  California, 
211. 

Bird,  Vice-Chancellor,  Hutchins' 
case,  510. 

"  Birmingham  Owl,"  428-429. 

Bisset,  Andrew,  225,  228,  521. 

"  Bitter  Ci-y  of  Outcast  London," 
421. 

Bladder  trouble,  332. 

Blaine,  Hon.  James  G.,  504-505,  506. 

Blessing  of  an  old  woman,  606. 

Body,  its  I'elation  to  the  spirit,  545, 
547. 

Bohemian  Club,  member  of,  255. 

Bolles,  Albert  8.,  author  of  "  Finan- 
cial History,"  342. 

Bonanza,  Kings,  101 ;  the  Big,  256. 

Bond,  David,  83,  94-95 . 

Bootblack  and  Philosopher,  551, 
552. 

Booth,  .John  Wilkes,  assassinates 
Lincoln,  161. 

Booth,  Gen.  William,  Salvation 
Army,  540,  567. 

Bootli,  Mrs.,  wife  of  General,  540. 

Bouqiiillon,  Rev.  E.  Thomas, 
McGlynu  case,  560-561. 

Bowman,  Hon.  Thomas,  of  Iowa, 
672. 

Braddock  exec.  vs.  G.,  5l0/t, 


Bradford, ,  on  "  American  Flag," 

144. 
Brady,  Thomas  A.,  of  San  Francisco, 

161. 
Bramwell,  Lord,  against  "  Progress 

and  Poverty,"  420. 
Breadalbane,  Earl  of,  451. 
Breakdown,    G's,    584-586,    589,  594- 

595,  599,  601,  603,  604-607. 
Brennan,      Thomas,     Irish     Land 

League,  345,  389,  390. 
Bret  Harte,  160, 176, 177. 
Briggs,  Thomas,  of  London,  368,  422, 

484. 
Bright,  John,  370-371,  413,  422,  430- 

431,  444. 
Broadhitrst,  Henry,  M.  P.,  454. 
Broderick,  David  C,  of  California, 

97-98. 
Brontes  expedition,  165-167,  477. 
Brooks,  Noah,  of  San  Francisco,  173- 

175,  176-177. 
Brooks  &  Dickson,  lecture  agents, 

442-143. 
Brown,  A.,  of  London,  451. 
Brown,  Beriah,  of  San  Francisco, 

161. 
Brown,  John,  97,  98. 
Browning,  Robert,  253,  369,  549,  585, 

586. 
Browning,  Mrs.,  wife  of  Robert,  112. 
Browulow,  Lord,  454. 
Brush,   George  D.,  paints  portrait, 

548/(. 
Bryan,  William  Jennings,  580-583. 
Bryce,  Rt.  Hon.  James,  454. 
Buchanan,  President  James,  43, 108. 
Buchanan,  Robert,  the  poet,  549. 
Buddi  Lake,  camping  at,  412. 
"  Bulletin,"  of  San  Francisco,  144, 

152,  201,  205. 
Burdekin,  Sydney,  mayor  of  Sydney, 

529,  536-537. 
Burke,  Irish  Under-Secretary,  373. 

Burn, ,  Brontes  expedition,  166. 

Burns,  Robert,  551. 

Burroughs,  Silas  M.,  of  London,  512, 

515,  574,  579,  587,  602. 
Burtsell,  Rev.  Dr.  Richard,  490-491, 

495,  560-561,  562h,  565n-566n. 
Busts  of  G.,  586,  609. 
Butler,  Gen.  Beuj.  F.,  449,  .506. 
Byrne,    Resident    Magistrate,    Ire- 
land, 393,  394. 

Calcutta,  visit  to,  34-37. 

California,  conditions  in,  69-70,  74- 
75,  80,  89-SO,  91-93,  206,  209-210,  220, 
221-227,  231-232 ;  Bank  of,  237-238, 
248;  new  constitution  of,  298-300, 
316-317;  Legislature,  and  G.,  204, 
206,  218,  2o8,J64-2(;5  ;  University  of, 
G.  talked  of  for  chair  In,  274-275, 
279-281,  288;  his  lecture  before, 
274-281. 

"  Californian,"  magazine,  63>i,  151, 
159-160,  171,  177. 


INDEX 


615 


Cameron  &  Ferguson,  of  Glasgow, 
publish  "  Irish  Land  Question," 
348. 

Camp,  Freeman  A.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 90,  109,  120. 

Caprini,  Monsiguor,  Vatican  Li- 
brary, 567. 

Carlisle,  Logan,  President  Hand  to 
Hand  organization,  571. 

Carlisle,  U.  S.  Senator  John  G.,  571- 
572. 

Carrington,  Lord,  iSi. 

Casey,  Mrs.,  of  San  Francisco,  154. 

Chamberlain,  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph,  370- 
371,  413-414,  421,  431,  452. 

Champion,  H.  H.,  of  London,  422- 
423. 

Charter  Oak  Hall,  of  San  Francisco, 
288. 

Chase,  Warren  8.,  of  California, 
352w. 

"  Chesterfield's  Letters,  Lord,"  205. 

Children,  rearing  of,  251,  252-254. 

Childs,  E.  F.,  of  Sau  Francisco,  70-71. 

Chinese,  and  wages,  80 ;  movement 
against,  290-291.     (See  Writings.)  . 

Christ,  as  to  person  of,  548. 

"Chronicle,  San  Fi'aucisco,"  143?i., 
180  212-213 

Clark,  Dr.  Gavin  B.,  of  London,  422. 

Clark,  Michael,  secretary  Anti-Pov- 
erty Society,  492. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  410,  449,  504-506, 
511-513,  556,  576-578,  580-581. 

Clothes  wringers,  G.  peddles,  143. 

Cobden,  Richard,  444. 

Coddington,  Charles,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 103,  108-109,  124,  125,  152. 

Coflfey,  James  V.,  of  San  Francisco, 
85-86,  246-247,  275,  300,  307,  316,  527. 

Coflfin,  Capt.  G.  W.,  U.  S.  N.,  57n. 

Cohen,  Rabbi  Elkan,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 297. 

Coleman,  William  T.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 290-291. 

Coleridge,  Lord  Chief  Justice,  513- 
614. 

Colleges,  attitude  towards,  274-281, 
356. 

Collings,  Jesse,  M.  P.,  454. 

Compensation.    See  Confiscation. 

Conite,  Auguste,  compared  with 
Spencer,  420>i. 

Confiscation  of  land  values,  350,  423- 
424,  427,  428,  430. 

Congress,  G.  and  seat  in,  401,  463 ; 
"Protection  or  Fi-ee  Trade"  in, 
571-574;  single  tax  amendment  in, 
579. 

"Constitution,"  of  San  Francisco, 
109. 

Couybeare, ,  of  Oxford,  436-437. 

Coogan,  J.  J.,  of  New  York,  464. 

Cook,  Frederick,  of  New  York,  501- 
502. 

Cooper,  Edward,  ex-mayor  of  New 
York,  472. 


Cooper,  Peter,  of  New  York,  472. 

Cooper,  Hewitt  &  Co.    See  Hewitt. 

Copyrights,  sacrifice  of,  508,  593«. 

Corbett, ,  prior  of  Loughrea,  393. 

"  Coriolanus."    See  Shakespeare. 

Corrigan,  Archbishop  Michael  A.,  of 
New  York,  opposes  teachings,  465, 
486, 506, 561n.,  565  ;  refusal  of  church 
authorities  to  uphold,  560-562 ;  visit 
to,  465-466 ;  arid  reply  to,  487.  (See 
McGlynn.) 

Cottier,  Daniel,  of  New  Y'ork,  534- 
535. 

Cotton,  Frank,  editor  "  Australian 
Standard,"  531-532. 

Courtney,  L.  H.,  M.  P.,  324. 

Cowdery,  ,  candidate  for  presi- 
dency, 512. 

Cowen,  Joseph,  M.  P.,  389. 

Cowper,  Lord,  354,  373. 

Cramp,  Theodore,  of  Philadelphia,  9. 

Cranford,  Mary  P.,  daughter  of  John 
P.,  .515. 

Cranford,  John  P.,  of  Brooklyn,  406. 

Cranford,  Walter,  son  |of  Johu  P., 
447,  448. 

Croasdale,  William  T.,  of  New  York, 
485,  500,  505-506,  547,  574. 

Crocker,  Charles,  of  California,  142, 
211,  290. 

Croke,  Archbishop,  of  Ireland,  360. 

Croker,  Richard,  of  New  Y'ork,  475, 
597. 

Crosby,  John  8.,  of  New  York,  610. 

Cross,  Sir  R.  A.,  454. 

Crowley,  chief  of  San  Francisco  po- 
lice, 244. 

Cruikshauk,  Rev.  J.  M.,  of  Glas- 
gow, 518. 

Cummings,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  New  Y'ork, 
402. 

Cummins,  Dr.,  M.  P.,  at  Liverpool, 
429. 

Cm-rency  question,  G's  views  on, 
176,  558,  581. 

Curry,  Emma,  daughter  of  Rebecca 
D.,  46.    (See  Letters.) 

Cui-ry,  Florence,  daughter  of  Re- 
becca D.,  46. 

Curry,  George,  governor  of  Oregon, 
46. 

Curry,  Martha,  daughter  of  Rebecca 
D.,  46. 

Curry,  Rebecca  D.,  of  Philadelphia, 
46.     (See  Letters.) 

Curtis,  George  William,  of  New 
York,  353,  403. 

Daley,  Peter,  of  Sau  Francisco,  144, 

145-146,  147. 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  of  New  Y'ork,  122, 

124,  342. 
David.son,  Prof.    Thomas,    of   New 

York,  465. 
Davitt,  Michael,  relations  with  G., 

341,  347,  373-375,378-381,  382-385,387- 

389,  391,  398-399,  421-422,  425-427,  438, 


616 


INDEX 


450,  516,  597;  land  nationalisation, 
382-383;    liis  Oxford  lecture,  435. 
(See  Land  League,  Irisli.) 
Dawson,  Rev.  Thomas,  of  Glencree, 

Ireland,  367,  560h. 
Day,  Hon.  John  M.,  of  California, 

230,  232-234,  288,  293,  307. 
Death,  G's  views  on,  .507,  546,  547, 

586-587 ;  scene  at  his,  606-607. 
Dehts,  sacred  to  G.,  552-553;  paid  by 

"  Social  Prohlems,"  427. 
De  Camp,  Commander  John,  of  U.  S. 

steamer  Shubrick,  52,  71-72. 
Defoe,  Daniel,  585.     (See  "Crusoe, 

Robinson.") 
De   Leon,   Daniel,    of    New  York, 

465. 
Delmonico,  banquet  to  G.,  400-401. 
Democracy,  inherited,  11;  G's  final 
interpretation  of,  584,  595-602,  604- 
606. 
Democracy,  County,  of  New  York. 

See  Politics. 
"  Democrat,  The,"  William  Saunders' 

London  weekly,  449. 
"  Democratic  Press,"  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 161. 
Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  of  New  York, 

556,  578. 
Depressions,  Industrial,  G's  inquiry 
into  the  cause  of,  291-292 ;  preced- 
ing, 30-31,  32,  49,  50-51,  146-153,  283, 
290-291. 
De  Witt,  William  C,  of  Brooklyn, 

336   337. 
De   Young,    Charles,    owner   "San 
Francisco    Chronicle,"  143n.,   180, 
212-213. 
Dilke,  Sir  Charles  W. ,  housing  of  the 

working  classes,  454, 
Dillon,  Johu,  and  the   Irish  Land 
League,  347,  358,  372,  374,376;  and 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  380,  381. 
Domestic  side  of  G.,  250-261,  543,  556, 

558-559. 
Donallv,  Rev.  Arthur,  succeeds  Dr. 
McGlynn,  489-490. 

Donally, ,  Tarpey  case,  243. 

Donovan,  P.  J.,  of  San  Francisco, 

298,  307. 
Douthitt,  A.  B.,  who  spoke  of  Physi- 
ocrats, 229. 
Dove,  Patrick  Edward,  G.  charged 

with  plagiarism  from,  520. 
Downey,  ex-governor  of  California, 

240. 
Doyle,  Conan,  585. 
Drummond,  Henry,  438. 
Ducey,   Kev.  Thomas  A.,   Chicago 
strike  meeting,  577. 

Dull, ,  and  carriage  brake,  155. 

Duncan,  Jos.  C,  owner  of  "Home 

Joitrnal,"  102-108. 
Duraiit,  James  C,  "Progress  and 
Poverty,"    390,   568;     G's   lecture 
tours,  415,  422,  515 ;  "  Open  Letters 
to  the  Pope,"  568.    (See  Lettei-s.) 


"  Eagle,  Brooklyn,"  G.  and,  348-349, 
356. 

Eastman's  printing-office,  where  G. 
worked,  83,  88,  152-153,  154. 

Easton,  Dr.,  of  San  Francisco,  146, 
147. 

Eaton,  Dorman  B.,  civil  service  re- 
former, 341. 

"Edinburgh  Review"  on  G.  and 
Spencer,  420. 

Edwards,  Henry,  actor,  255. 

Egan,  Patrick,  treasurer  Irish  Land 
League,  358,  366,  381-383. 

Eliot,  George,  G's  opinion  of,  289. 

Ellis,  Prof.,  on  "  Progress  and  Pov- 
erty," 341. 

Ely,  B.  F.,  50-51. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  effect 
of,  141. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  116. 

Episcopal  Academy  of  Philadelphia, 
G.  attends,  8-9. 

Episcopal  Church,  G.  raised  in,  4-6, 
8-9,  10,  12,  14-15,  19-20,  36. 

Eiu'eka  Typographical  Union,  G. 
joins,  105. 

Eusebio,  Ludovico,  Italian  trans- 
lator of  two  of  G's  books,  567. 

Evans,  J.  H.,  married  Harriet  G.,  in. 

Evolution,  G's  opposition  to,  328, 
369-370. 

"Examiner,  San  Francisco,"  265, 
287-288,  324,  527. 

"Express,  Chicago,"  publishes 
"Progress  and  Poverty"  serially, 
356. 

Fair,  James  G.,  Bonanza  King,  101, 
256. 

Farming,  G's  experience,  93. 

Farr,  Rev.Wm.  C,  o£ Philadelphia, 7. 

Farrell,  John,  of  New  South  Wales, 
531    549. 

Faulkner,  ,  and  wringing  ma- 
chine, 154. 

Fawcett,  Rt.  Hon.  Henry,  and 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  324,  419. 

Federation,  Democratic,  of  Eng- 
land, 368. 

Fell,  WiUiam  Jenks,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 9. 

Ferguson,  John,  in  Irish  Land 
League,  345 ;  and  G.,  348,  389,  390. 

Ferral,  Robert,  of  San  Francisco, 
241-242,  293-294. 

Feudal  revenues,  225, 228. 

Field,  David  Dudley,  conversation 
with  G.  455. 

Field,  Stephen  J.,  Justice  U.  8.  Su- 
preme Court,  98>i. 

Financial  Reform  Association,  ad- 
dress to  G.,  514. 

Fiske,  John,  evolution,  570. 

Fithian,  Hon.  John  W.,  of  Illinois, 
572. 

Flintoff,  Joseph,  122-124. 

,  Mrs.,  107. 


INDEX 


617 


Flood,  James  C,  Bonanza  King,  101, 
256. 

Flood,  Sacramento,  G.  in,  135-137. 

Florence,  William,  actor,  556. 

Florida,  blockade  rimner,  169. 

Florida,  State  of,  secession,  108. 

Flursoheim,  Micliael,  Paris  confer- 
ence, 518-519. 

Ford,  Patrick,  and  Land  League, 
346,  358,  379 ;  reception  to  Davitt, 
384;  Dr.  McGlynn,  386;  urges  G. 
to  stump  Ireland,  391 ;  supports 
Blaine,  449  ;  supports  G.  for  mayor 
(1886),  479;  breaks  with  G.,  500. 
(See  Letters.) 

Formlials,  Ferdinand,  SO,  81. 

Forster,  William  E.,  354,  373. 

Forsyth,  William,  434,  450. 

"  Fortnightly  Review,"  421,  445. 

Fort  Sumter,  firing  on,  111-112. 

Foster,  George,  of  San  Francisco, 
152-153. 

Fox,  Annie  C.  See  George,  Annie 
Cor  sin  a. 

Fox,  EUzabeth  A.,  mother  of  Annie 
C.  George,  105,  lOO,  107, 121. 

Fox,  John,  father  of  Annie  C. 
George,  105, 106, 107. 

Fox,  Sister  Teresa,  107, 175,  293,  523. 

Franchise,  public,  obligations  of, 
176. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  his  story  of  the 
sign,  289?^. 

Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia, 
11-12, 14-16. 

Free  silver  coinage,  G.  on,  580-581. 

Free  Soil  Society,  406-407. 

Free  trade,  G.  converted  to  princi- 
ples of,  168-170;  and  advocates, 
176,  336-338,  505,  515,533-536,  537.  575. 

Free  Trade  Club,  New  York,  G. 
joins,  351;  League,  American,  G. 
joins,  207,  208. 

Frelinghuysen,  U.  S.  Secretary  of 
State,  395. 

Fremont,  John  C,  43. 

Frost,  R.  P.  B.,  secretary  Land  Re- 
form Union,  415,  422-423. 

Funeral,  his  own  references  to,  546, 
586;  G's,  607-611. 

Furbish,  Clinton,  407. 

Galilei,  parallel  with  McGlyim,  403- 
494. 

Gallagher,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  of  Cali- 
fornia, 124-125. 

Gallagher,  Walter,  G's  first  set 
speech,  266;  and  informal  follow- 
ing, 269. 

Gamage's  history  of  chartism,  230. 

Gannon,  James,  of  San  Francisco, 
243-244. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  335. 

Garland,  Charles  L.,  M.  P.,  New 
South  Wales,  522,  530. 

Gamier,  Prof.  Charles,  of  Paris,  519. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  43,  507-508. 


Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  the  young- 
er, 195,  202-203,  505-506,  511-512,  582. 
(See  Letters.) 

Gas-meters,  Inspector  of,  G.  holds 
office  of,  249,  262-264,  283,  293,  316, 
326. 

Gay,  Sydney  Howard,  of  New  York, 
403. 

"  Gazette,  Evening,"  of  Boston,  159. 

Gee,  Abel,  partner  in  "Evening 
Journal,"  109, 120. 

Gee,  Major,  father  of,  109. 

George,  Anna  Angela,  daughter  of 
G.,  289,  293,  515. 

George,  Annie  C,  wife  of  G's,  birth 
and  family  history,  105-107,  529, 
531 ;  courtship  aiid  marriage,  121- 
125,  126-128;  life  in  Sacra"iaeuto, 
129-131,  132-133,  135-137;  birth  of 
first  child,  138;  poverty  in  San 
Francisco,  143,  147 ;  birth  of  sec- 
ond child,  148-149;  paid  rent  by 
sewing,  153;  domestic  matters, 
154;  Mexican  expedition,  165-167; 
third  child,  175;  goes  East  with 
children,  180,  181 ;  reconciled  with 
her  uncle,  206;  back  in  Sacra- 
mento, 214 ;  again  East,  240 ;  fam- 
ily life,  250,  251,  2.52,  253,  2.54-255, 
256-261 ;  California  University  lec- 
ture, 275,  279-280;  Saucelito  cot- 
tage, 283;  birth  of  fourth  child, 
289,  293;  advises  about  first  lec- 
ture, 294;  lecture  on  "Moses,"  297- 
298 ;  assists  on  "  Progress  and  Pov- 
erty," 305;  literary  task,  310;  influ- 
ence over  G.,  312;  takes  boarders, 
338 ;  sells  household  goods,  342 ; 
about  Stanford,  349;  goes  with 
daughters  and  G.  to  Ireland,  357; 
presides  at  Land  League,  365-366 ; 
\'isiting  in  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land, 367,  368 ;  conversation  about 
Thomas  Spence,  368-369 ;  sees  Ten- 
nyson and  Browning,  369;  and 
Besant,  370;  on  Davitt's  duty,  375  ; 
member  Free  Soil  Society,  407 ;  ac- 
companies G.  to  Europe,  515 ;  and 
to  Australia,  523-540 ;  his  depend- 
ence on  her,  523 ;  Sister  Teresa, 
523;  in  the  Glorietta  mountains, 
523-524;  Taylor  about  G.,  524; 
Hawaiian  Islands,  527-528;  Syd- 
ney, 529,  531 ;  tries  to  escape  hon- 
ors, 534;  on  G's  duty,  534-535; 
courtesies,  536 ;  receives  a  me- 
mento, 537  ;  arrives  New  York,  540 ; 
accompanies  G.  to  Bermuda,  542; 
attempts  the  bic.ycle,  543;  preoc- 
cupation, 554-555 ;  G's  prediction, 
586-587 ;  G.  fears  his  own  waning 
strength,  589 ;  her  will,  589;  G'S 
duty,  595,  597 ;  and  little  enthu- 
siasm, 603;  G's  hist  night,  604, 
600-607.     (See  Letters.) 

George.  Captain  Richard,  G's  pa- 
ternal grandfather,  1,  2-3. 


618 


INDEX 


George,  Caroline  L.,  sister  of  G.,  5, 
15,  60.    (See  Letters.) 

George,  Catharine,  sister  of  G.,  5, 
60.    (See  Letters.) 

George,  Catharine  Pratt,  mother  of 
G.,  birth  and  parentage,  1,  4 ;  mar- 
riage and  children,  4,  5,  6 ;  literary 
taste,  11,  304  ;  religious  nature,  11, 
104 ;  chattel  slavery,  43-44 ;  counsel 
to  make  acquaintances,  103 ;  last 
days  and  death,  416-417.  (See  Let- 
ters.) 

George,  Chloe,  sister  of  G.,  5. 

George,  Dunbin,  uncle  of  G.,  16, 17, 
70. 

George,  Ellen,  cousin  of  G.,  71-72, 
83-44,  90,  93. 

George,  Harriet,  adopted  sister  of 
G.,  4. 

George,  Henry,  (1839-1855)  birth,  pa- 
rentage, and  auccstrj',  1-5  ;  school- 
ing, 6-9 ;  goes  to  work,  10 ;  reading, 
10-12;  yearns  for  the  sea,  13-18; 
(1855-1856)  sails  as  foremast  bov  to 
Australia  and  India,  18-23 ;  (1856- 
1857)  learns  to  set  type,  42 ;  reason- 
ing, 42-44 ;  shifts  about,  45-46 :  Law- 
rence Literary  Society,  49 ;  sails  to 
Boston  as  ordinary  seaman  on 
coal  schooner,  50;  appointed  as 
ship's  steward  on  Shubrick,  52; 
(1858)  phrenological  chart,  53-56; 
voyage  to  California,  56-68;  ar- 
rives San  Francisco,  68-70;  leaves 
Shubrick,  71 ;  goes  to  Frazer  Kiver, 
75-81 ;  returns  to  San  Francisco, 
81-82;  (1858-1859)  setting  type,  83; 
reading,  85-86;  weisher  in  rice 
mill,  88-89;  oflF  for  the  mines,  91- 
93  ;  farming  and  tr ampin ir,  83  ; 
type-setting  in  San  Francisco,  94- 
95;  (1860-1861)  joins  tyiiographical 
union,  105 ;  becomes  foreman,  105  ; 
meets  Miss  Fox,  105 ;  buys  interest 
In  "Evening  Journal,"  109-120; 
courtship  and  runaway  marriage, 
121-125  ;  gets  type-setting  work  in 
Sacramento,  126  ;  first  child  born, 
138 ;  losses  in  mining  ventures, 
138-141 ;  joins  Odd  Fellows  order, 
160;  (1864)  returns  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, 142 ;  peddles  clothes  wring- 
ers, 143 ;  sets  type  on  "  Bulletin  " 
and  is  discharged,  144;  enters  job- 
printing  partnership,  144;  suffers 
extriMiie  poverty,  140-153;  birth  of 
second  child,  148 ;  asks  stranger  on 
street  for  money,  149;  (1865-1866) 
begins  to  write,  155-159;  articles 
on  Lincoln's  death,  161-165;  joins 
Brontes  Mexican  expedition,  165- 
167  ;  goes  to  Sacramento  on  State 
printing,  167-168;  joins  National 
Guard,  168;  first  speech  and  con- 
version to  free-trade  belief,  108- 
170;  (1866-18G9)  gets  printing-case 
on  San   Francisco  "Times,"  173; 


writes  article  and  becomes  man- 
aging editor,  174-176;  third  chUd 
born,  175;  writes  "What  the  Rail- 
road Will  Bring  Us,"  176-180 ;  first 
managing  editor  of  "  Chronicle," 
180;  goes  East  to  get  telegraph 
news  service  for  "Herald,"  181; 
fight  with  press  and  telegraph 
monopolies,  183-186 ;  returns  to  San 
Francisco,  186;  conceives  his  life 
mission,  191-193;  writes  Chinese 
article  for  "  New- York  Tribune," 
193-197;  sends  copy  to  Mill,  197- 
201;  tries  to  get  nominated  for 
legislature,  206 ;  joins  Free  Trade 
League,  207  ;  votes  for  Grant,  208 ; 
edits  Oakland  "  Transcript,"  208; 
perceives  the  natural  order,  209- 
210 ;  (1870)  becomes  editor  and  part 
ownerof  "Sacramento  Reporter," 
211 ;  wars  on  press  and  telegraph 
monopolies,  212-213 ;  fight  against 
railroad  monopoly,  214-218 ;  moves 
to  San  Fi-ancisco,  216 ;  secretary 
Democratic  State  Convention,  218 ; 
defeated  for  legislature,  218;  (1871) 
writes  "  Our  Land  [and  Land 
Policy,"  219-235 ;  (1871-1875)  Starts 
"  Evening  Post,"  236-237 ;  delegate 
to  Democratic  National  Conven- 
tion at  Baltimore,  239-240;  loses 
"Post,"  248-249;  breaks  his  arm, 
251 ;  (1870)  appointed  inspector  of 
gas  meters,  262;  travels  about 
California,  264;  writes  on  per- 
sonal journalism,  264-265 ;  first  set 
speech,  266-269;  "  stumps  "  State, 
269-270 ;  (1877)  lectures  before  Uni- 
versity of  California,  274-181: 
Fourth  of  July  oration,  182-188; 
begins  "  Progress  and  Poverty," 
289 ;  fourth  child  born,  293 ;  Land 
Reform  League  organised,  293- 
294;  begins  crusade,  294-297;  lec- 
tures on  "  Moses,"  297-298 ;  helps 
establish  Free  Public  Library,  298 ; 
defeated  for  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 298-300;  (1879)  "Progress 
andPoverty  "finished,  301-312;  MS. 
of  "  P.  and  P."  rejected  by  East- 
ern publishers,  315-318 ;  G.  makes 
plates  in  San  Francisco,  318-320; 
and  prints  "  Author's  Edition," 
321;  "The  State,"  316-317 ;  (1880) 
G.  goes  to  New  York,  334,  335; 
works  for  election  of  Hancock 
for  presidencv,  336-338 ;  works  for 
Hewitt,  338-340 ;  (1881)  writes  "  The 
Irish  Land  Question,"  345,  347-348; 
first  lecture  in  New  York,  350; 
loins  Free  Trade  Club,  351;  lec- 
tures before  Land  League  organi- 
sations, 351-352 ;  makes  brief  trip 
to  California,  352-353  ;  meets  Fran- 
cis G.  Sliaw,  353  ;  goes  to  Europe 
to  correspond  with"  Irish  Worlcf," 
357;  first  lecture  in  Dublin,  362; 


INDEX 


619 


(1882)  goes  to  England,  365 ;  meets 
Spencer,  369-370 ;  meets  Bright  and 
Chamberlain,  371-372 ;  first  English 
speech,  378-379 ,  Davitt  declares  for 
"land  nationalisation,"  382;  Mc- 
Glynn's  New  York  speech,  384-387  ; 
first  address  in  Scotland,  389; 
"Progress  and  Poverty,"  389-391 ; 
arrested  in  Ireland,  392-395 ;  re- 
turns to  New  York,  399-400 ;  meets 
McGlynn,  402;  death  of  Shaw,  403; 
Shaw  legacy,  403 ;  Western  lecture 
trip,  403 ;  cheap  editions  of  books, 
404-405 ;  Free  Soil  Society,  400-407 ; 
writes  "  Problems  of  the  Time" 
("Social Problems  ") ,  408-410 ;  loses 
MS.,  410,  411 ;  death  of  parents, 
415-417 ;  (1884)  British  lecture  torn-, 
419-441 ;  replies  to  Argyll,  444- 
447 ;  British  lecture  trips,  449-452 ; 
meets  James  Bryce,  454 ;  writes  on 
"  Labor  in  Pennsylvania,"  456 ; 
publishes  "  Protection  or  Free 
Trade  ?  "  456  ;  meets  Tom  L.  John- 
eon,  457-458 ;  mayoralty  candidate, 
459-481;  (1887)  Starts  "The  Stan- 
dard," 484-485;  Anti-Poverty  So- 
ciety started,  491-492;  McGlynn 
excommunicated,  493-494;  candi- 
date for  Secretary  of  State  of  New 
York,  498-503;  dissensions,  505- 
506  ;  Hutchins  legacy,  509-511 ;  sup- 
ports Cleveland,  511-512;  ])rief  visit 
to  England,  513-515;  third  British 
tour,  515-519 ;  charge  of  plagiarism, 
519-521;  (1890)  Australian  tour, 
522-540 ;  first  national  single  tax 
conference,  540-541 ;  stricken  with 
aphasia,  541-542  ;  (1891)  visits  Ber- 
muda, 542 ;  marriage  of  daughter 
Jennie,  559 ;  marriage  of  son  Rich- 
ard, 559;  McGlvnn  reinstated,  559, 
562;  withdraws  from  "The  Stan- 
dard," 563;  "The  Science  of  Po- 
litical Economy,"  563-565  ;  "  Open 
Letter  to  the  Pope,"  565-568;  "A 
Perplexed  Philosopher,"  568-572 ; 
"Protection  or  Free  Trade?"  in 
Congress,  571-574;  death  of  "The 
Standard,"  574-575;  supports  Brvau 
for  presidency,  580-583;  (1897)  fail- 
ing strength,  584-586;  death  of 
daughter  Jennie,  587 ;  makes  will, 
589;  autobiographical  notes,  589- 
593 ;  mayoralty  candidate,  593-606 ; 
death,  606-607:  funeral,  607-611. 

"George,  Heni-y;  A  Study  from 
Life,"  245?(. 

George,  Henry,  &  Co.,  456. 

George,  Henry,  Institute,  of  Glas- 
gow, 518. 

"  George  the  Fifth,"  425. 

"  George-Hewitt  Campaign,  The," 
676/i. 

George,  Henry,  jr.,  son  of  G.,  born, 
138;  amanuensis  to  G.,  305;  sets 
type,  338;  newspaper  work,  356; 


Free  Soil  Society,  407;  goes  to 
Great  Britain  with  G.,  418;  anec- 
dotes about  G.,  424-425,  440;  G. 
playing,  428n,  548,  555-556,  583,  587  ; 
"The  Standard,"  485,  510-520;  pa- 
pal encyclical,  565 ;  mayoralty 
nomination,  607-608.    (See  Letters.) 

George,  James,  cousin  of  G.,  70-71, 
75,  76,  77-78,  80-81,  94,  124,  151n. 

George,  Jane  Vallance,  sLster  of  G., 
5,  60,  114,  126,  128, 129, 132, 134.  (See 
Letters.) 

George,  Jennie  Teresa,  daughter  of 
G.,  born,  175 ;  goes  to  Europe,  357  ; 
typhoid  fever,  399;  Free  Soil  So- 
ciety, 407 ;  goes  to  Europe,  515 ; 
scarlet  fever,  519;  marriage,  559; 
death,  587 ;  burial,  588,  611. 

George,  John  Vallance,  brother  of 
G.,  5,  129,  180,  242-243,  244,  485,  604, 
606. 

George,  Mary,  infant  sister  of  G., 
5. 

George,  Morris  Reid,  brother  of  G., 
5,22. 

George,  Rebecca,  infant  sister  of 
G.,  5. 

George,  Richard  Fox,  son  of  G., born, 
148-149,  293;  baptism,  154-155,  165- 
166 ;  school,  356 ;  Free  Soil  Society, 
407;  talks  with  G.  on  phrenology, 
56w,  and  progress  of  single  tax, 
417-418,  Henry  George  &  Co.,  456; 
"  The  Standard,"  485 ;  marriage, 
559 ;  models  bust  of  G.,  586,  609. 

George,  Richai-d  Samuel  Henry, 
father  o£  G.,  ancestrj',  bii-th  and 
early  history,  2-4;  marriage  to 
Catherine  P.  Vallance,  4 ;  children, 
5;  book  business  and  custom- 
house, 4-5,  8, 9 ;  nature  and  habits, 
5-6,  11,  12-13,  17-18,  44-45,  113  ;  puts 
G.  to  setting  type,  42;  slavery 
question,  43,  44;  influence  on  G., 
304,  305;  death,  415-416;  view  of 
G's  work,  416-417.    (See  Letters.) 

George,  Sophia,  second  wife  of 
James,  124,  151. 

George,  Thomas  L.,  brother  of  G., 
5,  14,  79,  129,  315-316. 

German,  "Progress  and  Poverty" 
translated  into,  480. 

Getz,  Henry  S.,  of  Philadelphia,  7. 

Gibbous,  Cardinal,  and  McGlynn, 
490-491. 

Giflen,  Robert,  reply  to  G.,  420-421. 

Giffln.  O.  F.,  of  San  Francisco,  75. 

Gilmore,  Rev.  Hugh,  of  South  Aus- 
tralia, 533. 

Gladstone,  Rt.  Hon.  William  E.,  323, 
354,  360,  372,  374,  375,  419,  420-421. 

Goddard,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  Philadelphia, 
133. 

Godwin,  George,  F.  R.  S.,  454. 

Godwin,  Park,  of  New  York,  341. 

Golden  Age,  G's  early  yearnings 
for,  117-118. 


620 


INDEX 


Gompers,  Samuel,  President  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labour,  479. 

Gorham,  George  C,  of  California, 
352«. 

Gottlieil,  Kabbi,  of  New  Yorli,  609- 
610. 

Grace,  William  R.,  Mayor  of  New 
York,  462. 

Gracey,  Rev.  Samuel  L.,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 9. 

Graham,  Mrs.,  private  school  where 
H.  G.  first  attended,  8. 

Grannan,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles,  Mc- 
Glyun  case,  560-5G1. 

Grant,  Col.  Fred.  D.,  political  candi- 
date against  G.,  502. 

Grant,  Gen.  Ulysses  S.,  when  at 
"  What  Cheer  House,"  85 ;  G,  voted 
for,  208 ;  afterwards  opposed,  239, 
247H-248M,  317 ;  G.  meets,  343 ;  pub- 
lic speaking,  478. 

"  Graphic,  The  Daily  Illustrated," 
of  New  York,  331,  470. 

Gray,  Edward  Dwyer,  M.P.,  361, 
398-899,  454. 

Greeley,  Horace,  193«,  207,  239-240. 

Greenback-Labour  Party  of  1884, 506. 

Greene,  Rev.  Thomas,  of  Aston- 
tmder-Lyne,  517. 

Greenwood  Cemetery,  G.  lot  at,  588, 
611. 

Grey,  Sir  George,  of  New  Zealand, 
323-324,  438,  528-529. 

Griffith,  Sir  Samuel,  of  Queensland, 
533. 

Gunn,  Dr.,  of  San  Francisco 
"Times,"  176. 

Gunton,  George,  of  New  York,  573. 

Goschen,  George  J.,  M.  P.,  454. 

Haight,    Governor    Henry   H.,  G's 

relations  with,  207-208,210, 218,  235. 
Hall.  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  R.,  of  Hli- 

nois,  7. 
Hallidie,  A.  S.,  of  San  Francisco, 

307,  315-316. 
Halstead,  Murat,  of  New  York,  556. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  principles  of, 

584,  596,  600. 
Hamilton,  Fort.    See  Residences. 
"  Hamlet."    See  Shakespeare. 
Hancock,  Winfleld  Scott,  G.  in  the 

presidential  campaign  of,  335-338, 

512. 
Hancock, ,  President  Melbourne 

Trades  and  Labour  Council,  535. 
Hand    to     Hand    Clubs,    circulate 

"Protection  or  Free  Trade '5  "  571. 
Hare,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  Episcopal  Acad- 
emy, 8. 
Harper     &    Brothers,    publishers. 

New    York,    and    "Progress    and 

Poverty,"  316. 
"  Harper's  Weekly,"  408,  474. 
Harris,  George  F.',  of  San  Francisco, 

241-242. 
Harris,  Matthew,  of  Ireland,  391. 


Harrison, ,  of  San  Francisco,  155. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  511 ;  and  the 
presidency,  511,  578. 

Harrison,  Ebenezer,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 48-49. 

Harrison,  Frederic,  of  London,  430- 
431. 

Harrison,  Sir  George,  454. 

Hart,  James  Morgan,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 9. 

Harter,  Michael  D.,  of  Ohio,  579. 

Hartley,  John  Scott,  models  bust  of 
G.,  586. 

Hasson,  John,  of  Philadelphia,  45, 
181,  183,  186,  205,  207,  213. 

Hastings,  Rev.  M.,  of  London,  451. 

Hawaiian  Islands,  G.  at  the,  527- 
528. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  G.  opposes 
his  candidacy  for  presidency,  266- 
272. 

Haymond,  Creed,  of  San  Francisco, 
21591. 

Haywood,  John,  &  Sons,  publishers, 
Manchester,  348. 

Hazeltine,  M.  W.,  of  New  York 
"  Sun,"  332,  342. 

Headlam,  Rev.  S.  D.,  of  London, 
422,  451,  514. 

Healy,  T.,M.P.,  380. 

Hennessy,  Peter,  of  London,  451. 

"  Henry  IV."    See  Shakespeare. 

"  Herald,  New  York,"  183,  334,  335, 
348,  484,  493,  499,  502. 

"Herald,"  San  Francisco,  180-181, 
183-186,  205,  212. 

Heme,  James  A.,  of  New  York,  556, 
577. 

Herodotus,  G.  on,  587. 

Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  first  meets,  338; 
works  on  Congressional  report 
for,  338-340;  G.  candidate  for  may- 
oralty against,  472-481. 

Hibbard,  Charles,  of  New  York,  552. 

Hickox  &  Spier,  San  Francisco 
money  brokers,  248h. 

Hicks,  William  E.,  teaches  G.  to  ride 
bicvcle,  543. 

Hill,  Governor  David  B.,  499. 

Hinton,  Charles,  sou  of  William  M., 
307. 

Hinton,  I.  T.,  father  of  William  M., 
236. 

Hinton,  John  Howard,  brother  of 
I.  T.,  236. 

Hinton,  William  M.,  G's  partner  in 
"Evening  Post,"  236-249;  Land 
Reform  League,  293 ;  prints  "  The 
State,"  316;  "Progi'ess  and  Pov- 
erty," 307,  318. 

Hittell's  "  History  of  California," 
109-110,  135. 

Holt,  Henry,  and  "  Progress  and 
Poverty,"  343. 

"  Home  Journal "  of  San  Francisco, 
G.  works  on  the,  95,  96,  102,  105, 
108. 


INDEX 


621 


Hopkins,  Mark,  of  California,  142, 

290,  211. 
Hoppel, ,  of  San  Francisco,  103, 

104,  108-109,  125. 
Horner,  "Bill,"  of  Philadelphia,  13, 

15,  48^9,  118. 
Horstmaim,  Kt.    Rev.  Ignatius,  of 

Cleveland,  6,  8. 
Housing  of  the  working  class,  453- 

454. 
How,   Kt.   Eev.    W.    "Walsh  aw,    of 

Waketieia,  454. 
Hughes,  Thomas,  324. 
Hungerford,  ,  Brontes'  expedi- 
tion, 166. 
Huntington,  Collis  P.,  of  California, 

142,  211,  290,  598. 
Huntington,  Eev.  J.  O.  S.,  of  the 

Order  of  the  Holy  Cross,  479,  539- 

540,  559. 
Hutchins,  George,  bequest  to  G., 

509-511. 
Huxley,  Prof.  Thomas  H.,  and  G., 

568-569. 
Hyndman,  Henry  M.,  of   London, 

368-369,  423,  518. 

Immortality,  G's  belief  in,  134,  328- 

329,  546-548,  588,  611. 
Impot  uniqiie,  G's  first  hearing  of, 

521. 
"Independent,"  Leeds,  England,  343. 
India,  G's  first  visit  to,  18, 19,  32-37 ; 

later  visit,  539. 
Inductive  method,  'G.  and  the,  447- 

448. 
Ingersoll,  Col.  Robert  J.,  578. 
Interest,  rate  in  California,  178, 179- 

180;  relative  to  wages  and  rent, 

231. 
Introspection,  G's  habit  of,  56. 
"ilnvlncibles "   and    Phoenix    Park 

murders,  373. 
Ireland,  G's  first  trip  to,  358-399. 
Italian,  G's  "  Letter  to  the  Pope"  in, 

567. 
Italy,  G's  visit  to,  539. 
Irwin,  William  8.,  Governor  of  Cali- 
fornia, 249,  262-263.  268.  326. 
Ivins,  William  M.,  of  New  York,  463. 

Jackson,  Hawden,  of  Liverpool,  429, 

430. 
JelTerson,  Joseph,  actor,  556. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  Letters  of,  586 ; 

principles  of,  584,  596,  599,  COO,  604  ; 

the  Party  of,  601-608. 
Jefterson,  Thomas,  belief  as  to  the 

person  of  Christ,  548. 
Jeffreys,  Jo.,  of  Philadelphia,  40,  48- 

49,  58,  59-61,  73,  78,  87-88,  96. 
Jeuue,  Mrs.  (Lady),  of  London,  369. 
John  o'  Groat's  House,  G.  visits,  433. 
Johnson,  Col.  A.  W.,  father  of  T.  L., 

588. 
Johnson,  Tom  L.,  early  history  of, 

457;  meets  G.,  457-458;    G's  first 


mayoralty  campaign,  459,  460, 471 ; 
Anti-Poverty  split,  506;  before 
Ohio  Legislative  Committee,  575; 
G's  attack  of  aphasia,  542 ;  G's  uu- 
blacked  boots,  554 ;  house  at  Fort 
Hamilton,  559;  provision  for  G's 
literary  work,  563-564 ;  dedication 
of  "  The  Science  of  Political  Econ- 
omy" to.  564.  602;  takes  "  Protec- 
tion or  Free  Trade  1 "  into  Con 
gress,  571,  574,  575,  576 ;  free-trade 
speech,  576 ;  for  Maguire  amend- 
ment, 579 ;  supports  W.  J.  Bryan, 
581;  G's  last  campaign,  602,  607. 
(See  Letters.) 

Johnson  Company,  named  after 
Tom  L.,  557 ;  G's  paper-money  idea, 
558. 

Jones,  U.  8.  Senator  John  P.,  and 
the  San  Francisco  "  Evening  Post," 
247-249  ;  connection  with  San  Fran- 
cisco "Evening Post,"  256. 

Jones,  William,  of  Philadelphia,  13, 
48^9,  61,  87,  96,  131-132. 

Josselyn,  Dr.,  of  San  Francisco, 
150. 

''Journal,  Evening,"  of  Philadel- 
phia, 60. 

'■Journal,  Evening,"  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 109,  111,  123,  126 ;  history  of, 
136,  137,  143,  144. 

"  Journal,  Home,"  G's  connection 
with,  236. 

"  Journal,  New  York,"  578 ;  G's  presi- 
dential campaign  articles  in  (1896), 
581,  582-583. 

"  Journal  of  the  Trades  and  Work- 
ing Men  "155,  158-159. 

Jovues,  James  Leigh,  of  London, 
391-392,  392-394,  422. 

Juarez,  Benito,  of  3Iexico,  165-167. 

Judgment,  qualities  of  G's,  557-558, 
602-603. 

Junior  Reform  Club,  of  Liverpool, 
and  G.,  428. 

Kalloch,  Rev.  Isaac  8.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 294-295. 

Kearney  movement  in  California, 
290-291,  299-300,  331. 

Keeler,  B.  C,  St.  Louis,  523. 

Kegan,  Paul,  Trench  &,  Co.,  of  Lon- 
don, 390,  427. 

Kelley,  William  D.,  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, 46. 

Kelly,  Dr.  James  E.,  makes  G's  ac- 
quaintance, 367 ;  story  of  G's 
asking  money  on  the  street,  149 ; 
Pha-uix  Park  murders,  373-374; 
banquet  to  G.,  398-399;  G's  apha- 
sia, 541 ;  warning  to  G.,  585,  594 ;  at 
G's  death-bed,  607. 

Kennedy,  Aleck,  of  San  Francisco, 
155. 

Kenny,  Dr.  Jas.,  of  Dublin,  379,  398- 
399. 

Kettle, ,  of  Dublin,  372. 


622 


INDEX 


King,  Cameron  H.,  of  San  Francisco, 

269. 
King  «fe  Baird,  where  G.  learned  to 

set  type,  42,  45,  73,  83. 
Kinsella,  Thomas,  editor  "  Brooklyn 

Eagle,"  337. 
Knights  of  Labour,  G.  joins,  405  ;  his 

books  among,  405-406. 
Knowlton,    James    J.,  partner   in 

"Evening  Journal,"  109,  120,  143, 

150,  152. 
Kramer,  Rev.  John  W. ,  of  New  York, 

448-449,  465-467,  485,  611. 

Labouchere,  Henry,  M.  P.,  324,  425, 
516. 

Labour  Statistics,  New  York  State 
Bureau  of,  G's  name  suggested 
for,  410. 

"Labour,  The  Condition  of."  See 
Works. 

Land  and  Labour  Clubs,  484,  496,  606. 

Laud,  speculation  in,  and  G's  dis- 
covery, 209-210;  grants  In  United 
States,  220-221;  relation  of  labour 
to,  222-223 ;  effect  of  private  owner- 
ship, 224 ;  true  policy  towards,  225- 
227,  232-234,  469;  the  Chinese  ques- 
tion and,  80,  203;  California  con- 
stitution and  monopoly  of,  316-317 ; 
old  English  two-shilling  tax  on, 
428n;  Chamberlain's  proposal  to 
tax,  452;  and  Eoyal  Commission's 
proposal,  453-454;  Coleridge  on 
laws  relating  to,  513-514;  concen- 
tration of  ownership  in  France, 
519;  Tolstoi  predicts  abolition  of 
private  property  in,  514;  nation- 
alisation of,  espoused  by  Davitt, 
382,  383 ;  G.  and  Parnell's  attitude, 
382,  383 ;  Wallace's  plan  for  natu- 
ralisation of,  382,  397. 

Land  League,  American,  347,  405; 
Irish,  organisation  and  work  of, 
345-348,  354-355,  358-366,  371-376; 
disorganisatiou  of,  376 ;  "  Progress 
and  Poverty"  and,  341,  347,  380- 
381;  G's  relations  with,  351-352, 
358-366,  371-376;  Irish  nationalisa- 
tion of,  376 ;  ladies'  work  of,  358, 
361,  365-366,  372,  375-376. 

Land  Nationalisation  Society,  Eng- 
land, 397-398. 

"  Land  Question,  The"  (Irish).  See 
Works. 

Land  Reform  League,  of  California, 
G's  lectures  under  auspices  of. 
293-294;  in  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion fight,  299. 

Land  Reform  Union,  England, its  or- 
ganisation and  principles,  397-398 ; 
Davitt  lectures  for,  421;  G's  lec- 
ture tour  arranged  by,  419-437. 

Land  Restoration  League,  English, 
437,  578-579. 

Land  Restoration  League,  Scottish, 
434,  449^52. 


Lande,  Edward,  G's  first  secretary, 

247. 

Landers,  Mrs.,  of  San  Francisco,  152. 

Lane,  David  H.,  of  Philadelphia,  9. 

Latimer,  Catharine,  16. 

Latimer,  Rev.  George  A.,  cousin  of 
G's,  6,  13-17,  iln,  611. 

Latimer,  Rebecca,  wife  of  Thomas, 
4, 15, 16, 17. 

Latimer,  Thomas,  G's  uncle,  4-5,  9- 
10, 12,  14,  15, 16, 17,  20,  132, 133. 

Lauderbach,  Henry  Y.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 9. 

Laveleye,  Emile  de,  and  "Progress 
and  Poverty,"  330-331. 

Law,  G.  reads,  257-258 ;  lynch,  G.  on, 
243n. 

Lawrence  Literary  Society,  49. 

"  Leader,  The,"  of  New  York,  474. 

Le  Conte,  John,  President  Univer- 
sity of  California,  275,  281. 

Le  Conte,  Prof.  Joseph,  281,  330,  570. 

"  Ledger,  The,"  of  San  Francisco, 
brief  history  of,  248. 

Lees,  Dr.  F.  R.,  editor  Leeds  "  Inde- 
pendent," 343. 

Letters  —  to :  J.  P.  Archibald, 
mayoralty  nomination,  461  — Wil- 
liam J.  Bryan,  congratulations, 
583  — J.  V.  Coffey,  politics,  352; 
age,  54G  —  Emma  Curry,  printing, 
45-46, 47-48  —  Mrs.  Curry,  Philadel- 
phia and  Oregon,  47-48;  California 
and  Oregon,  90  — J.  C.  Durant, 
Parliameht,  452  — Rev.  Thomas 
Dawson,  G's  mission,  193,  311-312  ; 
home  honours,  401 ;  reply  to  the 
Pope,  560«  —  B.  F.  Ely,  industrial 
depression,  50-51  —  Hon.  Thos.  B. 
Florence,  the  Shubrick,  51-52  — 
Patrick  Ford,  state  of  Ireland,  360, 
361;  lecture  in  Dublin,  361-362; 
Bishop  Nulty,  362-364;  "  whig- 
ging,"  364,  365  ;  Bright  and  Cham- 
berlain, 370-371 ;  Parnell,  372  ; 
"slowing  down,"  376-377  ;  Parnell 
and  Davitt,  379-380;  Davitt,  382; 
Parnell,  383;  McGlyuu,  386-387; 
Davitt,  387 ;  Kilmainham  treaty, 
388 ;  Davitt,  388 ;  Irish  leaders,  391 
—  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Chi- 
nese immigration,  202-203  —  Annie 
C.  George  (wife),  outlook  for  work, 
143  — "Evening  Post,"  256;  forti- 
tude, 257  ;  reading  law,  257-258  ; 
divorce  bill,  258 ;  true  marriage, 
258-259  ;  Abelard  and  Heloise,  260; 
higher  pleasures,  260;  signature 
bill,  265;  Davitt  and  ParneU,  378- 
379;  Francis  G.  Shaw,  403;  mar- 
riage anniversary,  412-413;  press 
notices,  427;  lecturing,  508-509; 
preoccupation,  509??;  on  death, 
546;  domestic  matters,  552  —  Caro- 
line L.  George  (sister),  mission- 
aries in  California,  90;  rice  mill, 
96;  silver  mines,  108-109;  "Even- 


INDEX 


623 


ing  Jonmal,"  114;  condition  of 
work,  137 ;  type-settins.  168— 
Catherine  Pratt  George  (mother), 
before  sailing  for  sea,  20-21 ;  India, 
33;  Shubrick  voyage,  58-59;  rieo 
mills,  88-89 ;  "  Harper's  Ferry  re- 
bellion," 96-97;  first  set  speech, 
270-271  — Henry  George,  jr.,  papal 
encyclical,  565, 566,  567  —  Jennie  V. 
George  (sister),  life  in  Victoria, 
78,  83-84 ;  reading  and  thinking,  95- 
96, 100-101 ;  Washoe  gold  discover- 
ies, 100-101 ;  habits,  102-103;  "Even- 
ing Journal,"  111 ;  tlie  golden  age, 
115-119 ;  Miss  Fox,  126 ;  desire  for 
wealth,  129-132  — R.  S.  H.  George 
(father),  India,  33;  Shubrick  voj*- 
age,  58-59;  rice  mill,  88-89;  the- 
atrical entertainments,  99-100 ; 
San  Francisco  "Times,"  171-172; 
"  Pi'Ogress  and  Poverty,"  321 ; 
birthday,  415-416  —  Governor  of 
Illinois,  Chicago  anarchists,  498  — 
C.  D.  F.  von  Gutschou,  first  may- 
oralty campaign,  480;  socialists  and 
anarchists,  601h-502h  ;  personal 
finances,  508  —  James  A.  Heme, 
his  acting,  550  —  Ahram  8.  Hewitt, 
mayoralty  campaign,  475-476  — 
Tom  L.  Johnson,  Fort  Hamilton 
home;  Grover  Cleveland,  576  — 
Mrs.  Lowell,  death  of  F.  G.  Shaw, 
403;  loss  of  manuscript,  410;  first 
mayoralty  campaign,  474-475  — 
Mrs.  Malthrop,  San  Francisco,  75  ; 
James  McClatchy,  tariff  book,  406 

—  Richard  McGhee,  single  tax  in 
Congress, 579  —Dr.  McGlynn,  con- 
gratulations on  reinstatement,  562 

—  Simon  Mendelson,  meeting  after 
life,  588  — Dr.  Walter  Mendelson, 
health,  594-595— James  E.  Mills, 
churches  and  injustice,  567-568  — 
Mrs.Frances  M. Milne,  over-praise, 
507,  553  — Dr.  R.  Heber  Newton, 
duty,  603  —  Charles  Nordhoff, 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  immor- 
tality, etc.,  327-329;  Congress,  401 
— John  Nugent,  telegraph  and 
press  monopoly,  184-185  —  Francis 
G.  Shaw,"  Progress  and  Poverty," 
355,  380-381;  Davitt,  382,  389-390, 
391 ;  arrests,  394 ;  hope  of  tlie 
masses,  398;  G's  work  In  British 
Isles,  399  —  A.  J.  Steers, "  Progress 
and  Poverty,"  333-334  —  C.  A.  Sum- 
ner, New  York,  181-182;  politics, 
206  — John  Swinton,  "Progress 
and  Poverty,"  322,  322-323,  333  — 
E.  R.  Taylor,  spiritualism,  329; 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  330-331, 
332,  340-341,  342-344,  347,  397 ;  illness, 
332;  leaving  California,  334;  New 
York,  338 ;  Hewitt  Congressional 
report,  339,  340;  German  transla- 
tion and  breaking  up  home,  341- 
342;  "Irish  Land  Question"  and 


Leland  Stanford,  348-349;  poverty 
and  suicide,  349 ;  politics,  349  ;  lec- 
ture prices  and  plans,  351 ;  credi- 
tors, 352h  ;  Shaw  and  Wallace,  353- 
354 ;  "  Irish  World,"  354 ;  Irish  Land 
League,  362;  Herbert  Spencer, 
370;  home  honours,  401;  Shaw  be- 
quest iind  tariff  book,  404 ;  "  Frank 
Leslie"  articles, 408 ;  "Social Prob- 
lems " ;  loss  of  MSS.  and  anno- 
tated "Wealth  of  Nations,"  411; 
pleasure  and  positivists,  412 ;  death 
of  parents,  417 ;  Spencer  and 
Comte,  420;  "Protection  or  Free 
Trader'  448;  Cleveland's  first 
nomination,  449;  first  mayoralty 
fight,  463-464;  Italy,  539;  urging 
activity,  >o50 ;  professors,  552 ;  "  The 
Science  of  Political  Economy," 
563;  Huxley,  569;  Spencer,  569; 
evolution,  569 ;  "  A  Perplexed  Phi- 
losopher," 571  —  Isaac  Trump,  min- 
ing ventures,  138-140  — The  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  arrests 
in  Ireland,  394-395  — Mary  Val- 
lance  (aunt),  before  sailing  to  sea, 
21,  21-23;  California  fruits,  94  — 
Thomas  F.  Walker,  "  Progress  and 
Poverty,"  406,  413-415  ;  Bright  and 
Chamberlain,  413-415;  "Confisca- 
tion," 427-428;  Liverpool  lecture, 
429-430;  Bright,  Harrison  and 
Chamberlain,  430-431 ;  tariflf  book, 
447 ;  on  death,  546 ;  death  of  daugh- 
ter, 588— Charles  Walton,  Shu- 
brick voyage,  62-63  —  John  Russell 
Y'oung,  "  Progress  and  Poverty," 
332,  397  ;  veiled  writing,  556. 
Letters  —  from  :  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
"  Progress  and  Poverty,"  315 ;  R. 
P.  B.  Frost,  British  lecture  tour, 
415;  A.  C.  George  (wife),  news- 
papers, 207;  Greeley  campaign, 
240 ;  stock  speculation,  255 ;  Cath- 
erine Pratt  George  ( mother),  fam- 
ily and  religious  matters,  36 ;  re- 
ligious revival,  72 ;  deprecating 
Victoria  trip,  76 ;  snares  in  seeking 
riches,  76;  social  influence  of 
women,  86-87 ;  on  roving,  90 ;  need 
of  friends,  90 ;  death  of  Jeflfi-eys,  96 ; 
against  roving,  101 ;  religion,  104- 
105 ;  war,  112 ;  urging  courage,  127  ; 
sister  Jennie's  death,  132-134; 
Catharine  George  (sister),  news 
of  marriage,  128  —  Caroline  L. 
George  (sister),  coolring,  78  —Jen- 
nie V.  George  (sister),  a  dream, 
72-73 ;  aflfection  of  boy  friends,  73 ; 
the  war  and  Mrs.  Browning,  112; 
"Evening  Journal,"  Hi;  coffee  in- 
cident, 115;  Miss  Fox,  126-127; 
domestic,  128-129  —  Thomas  L. 
George  (brother),  "  Progress  and 
Poverty,"  316  —  R.  S.  H.  George 
(father),  toy  brig,  36;  Mormonisni, 
72 ;  prudence,  76-77 ;  business  ad- 


624 


INDEX 


vice  and  home  news,  79 ;  business 
habits,  86 ;  Jolm  Brown  and  state 
of  country,  98 ;  egotism  of  English- 
men, 102;  secession  of  Southern 
States,  108 ;  war,  112-113  ;  affection 
of  his  children,  113-lU;  "Sacra- 
mento Reports,"  214;  last  let- 
ter, 416— William  E.  Gladstone, 
"Progress  and  Poveity,"  323  — 
Sir  George  Grey,  "Progress  and 
Poverty,"  323-324  —  Jo  Jeffreys, 
Shubrick  voyage,  59-61 ;  restless- 
ness, 78 ;  habit  of  steadfastness, 
87-88  —  William  Jones,  death  of 
Jeffreys,  96  —  John  Stuart  Mill, 
Chinese  immigration,  197,  198-200 
—  Frances  M.  Milne,  over-praise, 
507  —  F.  G.  Shaw,  sending  money 
gift,  381 ;  money  pledge  lor  VProg- 
ress  and  Poverty,"  381  —  Dr.  Tay- 
lor, Spencerian  philosophy,  569  — 
Isaac  Trump,  mining  ventures, 
140-141  —  Thomas  F.  Walker,  "  Let- 
ter to  the  Pope,"  567  — Edmimd 
Wallazz,  voyage  of  Shubrick,  73-74 ; 
John  E.  Young,  "  Times"  review 
of  "  Progress  and  Poverty,"  396- 
397. 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  surrender  of, 
166. 

Leggett,  Joseph,  President  Land 
Reform  League  of  California,  293- 
294. 

Le  Monnier,  P.  L.,  French  trans- 
lator of  "  Progress  and  Poverty," 
519/i. 

Lenbuscher,  Fred.  C,  part  author  of 
"The  George-Hewitt  Campaign," 
476/1. 

Leo  XIII,  Pope,  issues  encyclical  on 
"  The  Condition  of  Labour,"  565 ; 
regarded  by  many  as  condemna- 
tion of  single-tax  doctrine,  565- 
566 ;  80  viewed  by  others,  565« ; 
G's  reply,  566-568;  G's  after-view, 
566»i;  effect  of  G's  reply  to,  660;  G's 
admiration  for,  5mn.  (See  Mc- 
Glynn.) 

Le  Sueur,  William  D.,  of  Ontario, 
340-341. 

Leverson,  Dr.  Montague  R.,  of  New 
York,  330,  462H,  594. ' 

Lewis,  August,  forms  friendship 
with  G.,  471;  biographical  notes 
of,  471,  548»i ;  during  G's  attack  of 
aphasia,  542;  provision  for  G's 
work,  563-564;  dedication  of  G's 
"  Science  of  Political  Economy," 
471,  564,  602;  in  politics,  505-506, 
582,  602,  603,  607;  reports  G.  on 
"  confiscation, "  423»i ;  introduces 
Schopenhauer's  philosophy  to  G., 
547-548 ;  has  Brush  paint  G's  por- 
trait, 548n. 

Lewis,  Louisa,  first  wife  of  G's 
father,  4. 

Lewis,  Mrs.,  wife  of  August,  542. 


"  Liberator,  The,"  Garrison's,  508. 

Liberty  and  Property  Defence 
League  against  "  Progress  and 
Poverty,"  420. 

Liberty,  G's  apostrophe  to,  285-287. 

Library,  San  Francisco  Free  Public, 
G.  helps  to  establish,  298;  Quaker 
Apprentices',  at  Philadelphia,  11 ; 
Franklin  Institute,  at,  11 ;  G's  pri- 
vate, 301-302. 

Life,  meaning  of,  to  G.,  412,  541,  547. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  G.  cast  his  first 
vote  for,  107 ;  inaugurated,  108 ; 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  141 ; 
assassination  of,  160-161 ; "  Copper- 
head "  newspapers,  161 ;  G's  sketch 
on  death  of,  161-164;  G.  on  char- 
acter and  work  of,  164-165;  what 
nerved  him  against  chattel  slav- 
ery, 191 ;  incident  of  McClellan's 
horse,  552. 

Liquor  licenses,  G.  on,  478. 

Literary  class,  G's  small  hope  of 
the,  398. 

Longfellow,  549. 

Longuet,  Charles,  of  Paris,  519. 

Louisiana,  State  of,  secession,  108. 

Lovell,  John  W.,  of  New  York,  pub- 
lishes cheap  edition  of  G's  books, 
404-405  ;  also  "  The  George-Hewitt 
Campaign,"  476?!,. 

Low,  Seth,  mayoralty  candidate 
against  G.,  595,  598,  605-606. 

Lowell,  James  RusseU,  related  to 
Francis  G.  Shaw,  353,  395 ;  G.  and, 
395-396. 

Lyceum,  Sacramento,  170,  265-266. 

Lynch,  Nannie,  of  Dublin,  366. 

Macaulay,  Thomas  Babington,  253, 
586. 

"Macbeth."    See  Shakespeare. 

Mackay,  John  W., "  Bonanza  King," 
101,  166,  256,  556. 

Macrae,  Rev.  David,  of  Dundee,  432. 

Maanetism,  G's  nersonal,  698-599, 
601-602,  005,  606.  * 

Maguii-e,  James  G.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 202,  268,  293,  307,  499,  501«, 
502/(.;  to  independent  party,  505- 
506,  579. 

Mahon,  Frank,  of  San  Francisco, 
155,  239. 

Maloney,  Dr.,  of  Melbourne,  534. 

Malthus,  Rev.  Thomas  Robert,  228, 
352?l. 

Malthusianism,  G.  against,  426. 

Mann,  A.  L.,  of  San  t^ancisco,  293. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  438,  454,  565,  567. 

Manuscript,  loses,  410-411. 

"  Mark  Twain,"  138, 160. 

Marriage,  G.  and  the  tie  of.  123-125, 
126-128,  131,  250-261,  289,  305. 

Marshall,  Alfred,  at  G's  Oxford  lec- 
ture, 435-436. 

Marriot,  Frederick,  editor  San  Fran- 
cisco "  News-Lettcr,"  161. 


INDEX 


625 


Martin,  8.  W.,  died  on  Shubric?:,  63- 
67. 

Marryat,  Captain,  30w-3ln. 

Marx,  Karl,  his  followers  and  G., 
422-423. 

Maslin,  E.  W.,  of  San  Francisco, 
262-263. 

Materialism,  G's  opposition  to,  328, 
369,  548,  568. 

Matthew,  St.,  on  preacliingtlie  faitli, 
314. 

Maximilian,  Archduke,  165-167. 

Maynell,  Wilfred,  of  London,  438. 

Mazzini,  Giuseppe,  190. 

McAlpine,  Vice-President  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Co.,  183-185. 

McCabe,  William,  of  New  York,  407, 
480,  485. 

McCarthy,  Denis  E.,  of  California, 
138. 

McCarthy, ,  Supervisor  of  San 

Francisco,  244. 

McCarthy,  Justin,  M.P.,  G.  meets, 
366,  372. 

McClatchy,  James,  of  Sacramento, 
173,  307,  349,  407. 

McCloskey,  Cardinal,  of  New  York, 
386. 

McCloskey,  Elizabeth  A.,  mother  of 
Mrs.  George,  105, 106. 

McCloskey,  Henry,  105-106. 

McCloskey,  Mary  Ann,  105-106,  107, 
121. 

McCloskey,  Matthew,  121-123,201,257. 

McClure,  Col.  Alexander,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 556. 

McComb,  John,  of  San  Francisco, 
152. 

McCready,  of  New  York,  I.  L.,  of 
New  York,  406,  485,  491,  520. 

McDonald, ,  of  Skeabost,  433. 

McDonald,  Rev.  M.,  of  Inverness, 
451. 

McEwen,  Arthur,  of  New  York,  246, 
602-603. 

McGhee,  Richard,  of  Glasgow,  389, 
421,  422,  434,  515,  518,  563,  579. 

McGlynn,  jRev.  Dr.  Edward,  birth 
and  education,  402;  speech  at  Dav- 
itt  reception,  384-385  ;  silenced  by 
Church  authorities,  385-386,466;  but 
Bpeaks  for  Cleveland,  466;  G's 
opinion  of,  386-387 ;  first  meeting 
of  G.  and,  401-402;  counsels  G. 
(1887)  to  run  for  mayoralty ,;460-461 ; 
in  respect  to,  465-466 ;  punishment 
of,  465-466,  476-477, 484,  485-489 ;  dec- 
laration of  single-tax  doctrine,  486- 
487;  removal  from  St.  Stephen's, 
489-490;  Cardinal  Gibbons  and, 
490-491 ;  lecture  "  The  Cross  of  the 
New  Crusade,"  491 ;  President 
"  Anti-Poverty  Society,"  492  ;  ex- 
communication threatened,  493 ; 
G's  tribute,  493-494;  excommuni- 
cation, 494-495;  politics  of,  487, 
498-500 ;  Patrick  Ford  breaks  with, 


500 ;  separates  from  G.  over  Cleve- 
land, 506,  512-513 ;  friendship  with 
G.  renewed,  559,  562;  oflBciates  at 
Jennie  George's  wedding,  559 ;  ex- 
communication reconsidered  and 
renewed,  560-561 ;  freedom  to  ex- 
pound single-tax  doctrine,  561, 562 ; 
visit  to  Pope,  562 ;  appointed  to  a 
church,  562/i;  Jennie  George  At- 
kinson's funeral,  588;  at  funeral 
of  G.,  610-611. 

McHugh,  Edward,  of  Liverpool, 
428w.,  433,  551-552,  603-604. 

McKlnley,  William,  G.  opposes,  578, 
580-583. 

McLean,  Andrew,  of  Brooklyn,  337- 
338,  350,  356,  400. 

McLean,  Mrs.  C.  F.,  sketch  of  G., 
245-246. 

McMacWn,  John,  of  New  York,  467, 
484,  505-506,  512-513. 

McMullen,  James,  of  Philadelphia, 
59-60. 

McPhilpln,  Father,  of  Athenry,  293- 
294. 

Meeker,  Ralph,  notes  of  conversa- 
tion with  G.,  93,  148,  169,  166-167, 
181,  196,  210,  238-239, 247-249,  264,  318, 
322,  590-591. 

Mendelson,  Rebecca,  wife  of  Simon, 
542,  545. 

Mendelson,  Simon,  of  New  York,  542, 
545,  549,  588. 

Menzies,  Stuart,  of  San  Francisco, 
244. 

Merriewold  Park,  life  at,  558-559. 

Merrill,  Annie,  on  San  Francisco 
"  Times,"  175. 

Metcalf,  Lorettus  S.,  on  G's  power 
of  statement,  455. 

Methodist  church,  G.  joins  at,  103- 
104:  married  in  a,  124-125. 

Mexico,  G.  In  expedition  to  free, 
16.5-187. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  l>i,  Wn,  196,  197, 
200,  208,  228,  230,  234,  239,  352/1,  360, 
367-368,  564-565.     (See  Letters.) 

Miller,  Joaquin,  of  California,  176. 

Miller,  John  F.,  United  States  Sen- 
ator, 352/(. 

Miller,  Samuel,  Captain  of  ship 
Hindoo,  13-18,  19-39,  41. 

IMiller,  William,  of  London,  457. 

Mills,  James  E.,  of  California,  567- 
568,  574.    (See  Letters.) 

Mills,  William  H.,  of  Sacramento, 
169-170,  256,  260. 

Milne,  Frances  M.,  of  California,  im- 
mortality, 546, 549  ;  G's  encourage- 
ment of,  549 ;  "From  the  Battle," 
507«.    (See  Letters.) 

Milner,  Sir  Alfred,  419>i. 

Milton,  John,  317. 

Mining  ventures,  G's,  75-82,  91-93, 
120,  138-141,  255-2.56. 

Mintui'u,  James  F.,  of  New  Jersey, 
510. 


626 


INDEX 


Mississippi,  State  of,  secession,  108. 

Modesty,  in  great  men,  551 ;  G's, 
507,  530-531,  534,  537,  552,  553. 

"  Monitor,"  of  San  Francisco,  161, 
205H. 

Monroe  League,  G.  member  of,  167. 

Montgomery,  Zacliariali,  editor  San 
Francisco"  Occidental,"  161. 

Moore,  H.  H.,  of  San  Francisco,  307. 

Moreaii,  Gen.  Jean  Victor,  3. 

Morgan,  J.  P.,  of  New  York,  578. 

Morley.  Jolin,  389. 

Morley,  Samuel,  454. 

"Morning  Ledger,"  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 262. 

Morse,  Dr.,  of  San  Francisco,  146, 
147. 

Morton,  Levi  P.,  of  New  York,  511. 

"  Moses."    See  Works. 

Moxliam,  Arthur  J.,  of  Johnstown, 
557-558. 

MixUer,  Prof.  F.  Max,  435,  436-437. 

Murdock,  John,  of  Glasgow,  434. 

Murphy,  Patrick  J.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 292-293. 

Napoleon,  his  downfall,  551. 
National    Guard   of   California,  G. 

memlter  of,  168. 
Natural  order,  G.  observes  the,  209- 
210;  writes  lirst  book  on,  219-235; 
explanation  of  the,  564;    essence 
of  G's  economics,  568. 
Nevada,   mining  condition  in,  100- 

101,  lOS-109,  255,  256. 
"News-Letter,"  of  San  Francisco, 

161,  287-288. 
New  South  Wales,  G's  visit  to,  529- 

532.  536-539. 
Newton,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  Heber,  7-8,  350, 
406, 448-449,  465,  609.    (See  Letters.) 
Newton,  Rev.  Dr.  Richard,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 5-6,  14. 
Newton,  Rev.  D.  W.  W.,  6-7,  8, 12, 13. 
New  York  City,  as  G.  saw  it,  20,  21 ; 
G's  row  in  the  streets  of,  204,  209 ; 
G.  arrives  to  settle  in,  335. 
New  Zealand,  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty "  in,  397.    See  Aukland. 
"Nineteenth  Century,  "  444-445.  569. 
Nordhoflf,  Charles,  of  New  York,  335. 

(See  Letters.) 
"North  American  Review,"  349,  404, 

415,  455,  456,  529-530. 
Novel,  G's  thought  of  writing  a,  171. 
Nugent,    John,    of    San    Francisco 

"Herald,"  180-181,  184-185,  205. 
Nulty,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Meath,  on 
Irish  Land  League  movement, 
360-361;  pastoral  letter.  362-364, 
566-567;  on  compensation,  383; 
supported  by  Mc(.41yun,  385;  si- 
lenced, 385-386. 

O'Brien, ,  "Bonanza  King,"  lOl. 

O'Brien,  Bronterre,  writings  of,  230. 


O'Brien,  R.  Barry,  "  Life  of  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,"  375-376. 

O'Brien,  WUliam  8.,  "Bonanza 
King,"  256. 

"  Occidental,"  San  Francisco,  161. 

O'Connoll,  Daniel,  244,  255. 

O'Connor,  T.  P.,  M.  P.,  513. 

Odd  Fellows'  Order,  member  of,  160, 
168. 

Odenheimer,  Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  H.,  of 
New  Jersey,  7. 

CEdipus  and  the  Sphinx,  116,  204. 

Ogilvie,  William,  520. 

0''Gormau,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas,  of 
Washington,  560-561. 

Ohio  legislative  committee,  G.  be- 
fore, 515. 

O'Kelly,  J.  J.,  M.  P.,  358,  372,  374,  388. 

O'Meara,  James,  "Broderick  and 
Gwin,"  98». 

OAton,  President  Western  Union  Tel- 
egraph Co.,  185. 

O'Shea,  Captain,  and  "Kilmainham 
Treaty,  "  372. 

"  Our  American  Cousin  "  and  Lin- 
coln's assassination,  160. 

"Our  Land  and  Land  Policy."  See 
Works. 

"Overland  Monthly,"  171,  176-180, 
230  331   404. 

Overland  stage,  109, 130. 

Oxford,  G's  lecture  in.    See  Works. 

"  Pall  Mall  Budget,"  of  London,  482. 

"  PaUMall  Gazette,"  of  Loudon,  421, 
445,  450-451. 

Paris  Land  Reform  Conference,  518- 
619. 

Parker,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  London,  514. 

Parks,  Sir  Henry,  of  New  South 
Wales,  537. 

Parliament,  G.  declines  to  stand  for, 
452;  G's  friends  elected  to,  452- 
453;  report  of  Royal  Commissioner 
on  housing  of  the  working  classes, 
453-454 ;  taxation  question  in,  678. 
Parliament,  House  of  Commons, 
taxation  in,  578. 

ParneU,  Anna,  of  the  Ladies'  Land 
League,  358,  361,  365-366. 

Parnell,  Charles  Stewart,  heads 
Land  League  movement,  345-347, 
354,  358;  abilities  of  Davitt  and, 
365;  G.  meets,  366;  "Kilmainham 
Treaty,"  372,  376-377;  Phrenlx 
Park  murders  and,  374-375 ;  organ- 
izes Irish  National  League,  376; 
against  "  Progress  and  Poverty," 
380-381 ;  against  Davitl's  nationali- 
sation progi-ammc,  382,  383-384, 
387,  388 ;  in  eclipse,  421-422 ;  fol- 
lowers of,  oppose  G.,  380,  391,  429. 

Patents,  G's    distinction    of    copy- 
rights from,  593». 
Paul,  Kegan,  of  London,  Publish- 
ers, 341,  343,  371-372,  390.    See  Ke- 
gan, Paul,  Trench  &  Co. 


INDEX 


627 


Payne,  Missionary  Bishop,  7. 

Peddling,  G.  tries,  154. 

Pentecost,  Hugh  O.,  of  New  York, 
499,  520. 

Perkins,  George  C,  Governor  of 
California,  326. 

Peters,  E.  T.,  of  Washington,  234. 

Petersburg  taken,  155. 

Peterson,  Dr.  Frederick,  on  G's 
aphiisia,  541-542. 

Pliillips,  Wendell,  43. 

"  Philosopher,  A  Perplexed."  See 
Works. 

Philosopher,  hootblack  compared 
with,  551-552. 

Phoenix  Park  assassinations,  373- 
375. 

Phonograph,  G's  attempt  to  use, 
544-545. 

Photographs,  G's  last,  603. 

Phrenology,  G's  views  on,  53-56. 

Physiocrats,  G.  and  the,  228-229,  521. 

Pierson,  William  M.,  of  California, 
258,  264-265. 

Pike,  A.,  of  London,  457. 

Piracy,  G.  charged  with,  477. 

Pittsburg  riots  of  1877,  290. 

Placerville,  Calif oruia, 92-93, 100-101. 

Plagiarism,  G.  charged  with,  520-521. 

Pleasure,  where  G.  thought  it  lay, 
412. 

Plunkett,  William  A.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 244-245. 

Poetry,  G's  love  of,  11, 122,  124,  251- 
252,  253,  549-550. 

Political  economy,  genesis  of  G's 
thought  on,  43,  80,  100,  142,  159,  168- 
170,  176,  177-180, 191-203,  204,  209-210, 
216 ;  G's  effort  to  formulate  his, 
219-235 ;  G's  lecture  on  the  study 
of,  272-281;  its  study  open  to  all 
men,  278-279,  305-306 ;  G's  hope  that 
his  teachings  would  be  lifted  into 
the  current,  281 ;  state  in  which  lie 
found,  564-565;  sale  of  G's  writ- 
ings compared  with  other  works 
on,  217,  342-343,  390, 574  ;  his  Opinion 
of  his  effect  on  the  teaching  of, 
322-323,  591-593;  his  proposed 
primer  on,  328,  663;  the  Chinese 
question  and,  195-196;  special  in- 
terests and.  276-277;  Greeley's 
work  on,  193 »  ;  Symes'  Avork  on, 
513  (see  Works);  English  publishers 
refused  "Progress  and  Poverty" 
because  it  antagonised  the  cur- 
rent, 325-326. 

"  Political  Economy,  Principles  of," 
by  Mill,  scope  of,  564-565. 

"Political  Economy,  Science  of." 
See  Works. 

Political  Education,  Society  for,  G's 
books  for,  381-382,  471. 

Politics,  G's  Fremont  and  Lincoln 
Kepublican,  43,  107  ;  Jeffersouian 
Democrat,  206,  207-208,  214,  216-218, 
238,  239-240,  262,  266-273,  288,  298-300, 


299-300,  335-338,  449,  459-481, 496-503, 
504,511-513,  572-574,  575-578,  580-583, 
584,  593-607. 

Pompeii,  G's  visit  to,  539. 

Pond,  Major  James  B.,  manages  lec- 
tures for  G.,  496. 

Pony  Express,  its  importance  in 
West,  109-110. 

Popper,  Max,  of  San  Francisco,  297. 

"  Popular  Science  Monthly,"  331, 335, 
340,  343,  344. 

Porter  &  Coates,  G.  shares  office 
with,  456. 

Portrait  of  G.,  painted  by  Brush, 
548n;  last  photographs  of  G,  603. 

Positivists,  G's  contempt  for,  412. 

"Post,"  of  Liverpool  (1884),  430. 

"Post,  Evening,"  of  New  York,  470, 
474. 

"  Post,  Evening,"  of  San  Francisco, 
history  of,  236-249,  256. 

Potter,  Agathon  de,  of  Belgium,  519. 

Potter,  Et.  Rev.  Alonzo,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 8. 

Potter,  Re V.  Dr.  E .  N. ,  of  New  York,  8. 

Potter,  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  C,  of  New 
York,  8. 

Potter,  Stephen,  of  San  Francisco, 
247. 

Post,  Louis  F.,  beginning  acquain- 
tance with  G.,  355-350;  President 
Free  Soil  Society,  406;  camping 
with  G.,  412  ;  on  G's  two  styles  of 
speaking,  443-444 ;  G's  first  mayor- 
alty campaign,  474,  476/i ;  "  The 
Standard,"  485,  574 ;  Chicago  anar- 
chists, oOlw ;  (1887)  campaign, 
499,  502;  G's  hope  in  defeat,  502, 
504 ;  split  in  Anti-Poverty  Society, 
506;  "Henrietta  Georgina,"  515« ; 
body  and  spirit,  545  ;  G's  domestic 
life,  552 ;  G's  quality  of  judgment, 
557 ;  William  J.  Bryan,  581. 

Poverty,  G's  personal  contact  with, 
119,  146-153,  293,  301,  310,  326-327, 
334,  335,  344,  348,  349,  352-353.  411, 
552-553 ;  how  men  may  be  driven 
to  misdeeds  by,  149n ;  its  contrast 
with  wealth  started  G's  inquiry, 
191-193,  219,  311,  469;  why  it  accom- 
panies advancing  wealth,  210;  in- 
voluntary, due  to  violation  of  God's 
ordinance,  252,  408-409;  involun- 
tary, G.  begins  speaking  crusade 
against,  294-297.  (See  Anti-Poverty 
Society.) 

Powderly,  T.  V.,  grand  master 
workman  Knights  of  Labour,  406, 
479. 

Power,  J.  O'Connor,  of  London,  321. 

Powell,  F.  York,  M.  A.,  of  Oxford, 
435. 

Practicaljoke,  G.  frightened  by,  59«. 

Prang,  Louis,  of  Boston,  478,  546,  582. 

Pratt,  Henry,  of  Philadelphia.  4. 

Pratt,  Margaret,  G's  maternal 
gi-andmother,  4. 


628 


INDEX 


Preoccupation,  G's,  247,  309,  417-418, 

509n,  523,  554-556. 
Presideuey,  G.  talked  of  for,  483. 
President,  tbe,  G's  letter  on  arrests 

in  Ireland,  394-395. 
Preston,  Et.  Rev.  Monsignor,  of  New 

York,  477,  485-486,  488-489. 
Prince,  photojrrapli  of  G.  by,  603. 
Printing,  G's  emi)loyment  at,  42,  43- 

46,  8:j-84,  88,  94-95,  102-103,  105,  108. 

99-120,  125-126,  130-131,  132,  135,  137, 

142-143,    135-152;    G's    connection 

with,  154-172,  154,  175. 
"Problems     of    the    Time."      See 

Works. 
Procrastination,  G's  habit  of,  246- 

247. 
"  Professor,"  attractiveness  of  title 

to  G.,  275. 
"  Professor  Bullhead,"  G's  name  for 

Huxley,  569. 
Professors,  G.  and  the,  280-281,  322- 

323,  325,  341,  548,  552,  591 ;  Schopen- 
hauer and  the,  548. 
"Progress     and      Poverty."     Seo 

Works. 
"  Proletarian."    See  W^orks. 
Propaganda  Fide,  Sacred  Congrega- 
tion of  the,  386,  486-487,  488. 
"  Property  in  Land."    See  Works. 
"Prophet    of    San   Francisco,"  by 

Duke  of  Argyll,  444-445. 
Prosperity,  G's  fear  of  much,  587- 

588. 
Protectionism,  G.  opposed  to.    See 

Free  Trade. 
"Protection  or  Free  Trade?"    See 

Works. 
Pryor,  Judge    Roger   A.,    of  New 

York.  556. 
"Public  Ledger,"  of  Philadelphia, 

59-60. 
Punishment,  corporal,  for  children, 

253. 

Queensland,  G's  visit  to,  532,  533. 

Quesnay,  teachings  of  G.  and  those 
of,  229. 

Questioning,  a  feature  of  G's  speak- 
ing, 511,  516. 

Rae,  W.  Fraeer,  of  London,  324,  397. 

Railroad,  Central  Pacific,  early  his- 
tory of,  142;  completion  of,  209- 
210;  Chinese  question  and,  195-196, 
290  ;  G.  lights,  182-183,  186,  192,  206, 
210-211,  214-218,  235,  316-317 ;  G.  and 
the  natural  order,  209-210.  (See 
Works.) 

Ralston,  William  H.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 254. 

Ramsey,  John,  of  Sydney,  531. 

Rapp,  A.  H.,  partner  in  "  Post,"  237- 
238. 

Reading,  G's  love  and  habits  of,  10- 
12,  84,  85-86,  91,  95,  101,  102-103,  122, 
131,  253,  257-258,  288,  289,  301-303. 


Reasoning,  early  development  in 
G.,  13n. 

"  Record-Union,"  of  Sacramento, 
216/(,  325. 

"Reduction  to  Iniquity,"  G's  reply 
to  Argyll.    See  Works. 

Redpath,  James,  of  New  York,  331, 
455-456,  484. 

Reed,  D'Arcy  W.,  of  London,  579. 

Reed,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  Philadelphia,  133. 

Reeves,  William,  Publisher,  Lon- 
don, 348-422. 

Reform  Club,  of  New  York,  circu- 
lates "  Protection  or  Free  Trade  1 " 
574. 

Reid,  George  H.,  M.P.,  of  New 
South  Wales,  536,  537-538. 

Reid,  Mary,  G's  paternal  grand- 
mother, 1-2. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  of  New  York,  187. 

"  Reign  of  Law,"  G's  obligations  to, 
44.5-446. 

Reinhart,  Amelia,  of  Philadelphia, 
48. 

Religion.  G's  training  and  views,  14, 
15,  36,  41,  48.  61,  90,  103-104,  105,  126- 
127,  128,  132-134,  252,  257,  260,  311- 
312,  328-329,  432-433, 502,  541, 545-548, 
568. 

Rent,  relation  to  wages  and  interest, 
178,  179-180. 

"Reporter,"  Sacramento,  G.  editor 
and  part  owner  of,  201,  216n,  211- 
216. 

Representation,  pi-oportional,  176. 

Residences,  G.  South  Tenth  Street, 
Philadelphia,  1;  South  Third 
Street,  8 ;  Wharf  Street,  Victoria, 
B.  C,  78;  "What  Cheer  House," 
San  Francisco,'84 ;  Watoma  Street, 
89;  Pine  Street,  89;  City  Hotel, 
Sacramento,  135 ;  Russ  Street,  San 
Francisco,  144;  Perry  Street,  152  ; 
old  Federal  Building,  205  ;  Steven- 
son Street,  216 ;  Valencia  Street, 
250 ;  first  Rincou  HUl,  251 ;  second 
Rincon  Hill.  288;  third  Rincon 
Hill,  301;  Sancilito,  283;  Fort 
Washingt.on,  New  York,  348 ;  Four- 
teenth Street,  410 ;  Hancock  Street, 
Brooklyn,  410;  Crawford  Farm, 
Jamaica,  L.  I.,  447  ;  Macon  Street, 
Brooklyn,  447  ;  Pheasant  Avenue, 
New  York,  459-460;  Nineteenth 
Street,  509 ;  Merriwold  Park,  New 
Y'ork  State.  558-55it;  Fort  Hamil- 
ton, Greater  New  York,  559. 

Responsibility,  G's  judgment  un- 
der, 557. 

Revenue  Reform  Club,  of  Brooklyn, 
350. 

Ricardo,  David,  G.  and,  228,  352n. 

Rice,  Allen  Thomdike,  of  New  York, 
408. 

Rice  mills,  G's  employment  in,  88- 
89  91 

"  Richard  III."    See  Shakespeare. 


INDEX 


629 


Richmond  taken,  155. 

Ridge,  John  R.,  of  San  Francisco, 

llO/l. 
Riding,  G's  fondness  for  horseliack, 

209,  214,  250-251  ;     bicycle,    543-544, 

545—546. 
"Rights'  of   Man,    The   Real,"   by 

Thomas  Spence,  368-369. 
Rio  Janeiro,  G's  visit  to,  62,  63. 
Riots,  industrial,  290. 
Roach,  Philip  A.,  of  San  Francisco, 

265,  331. 
Roberts,  Joseph,  of  Philadelphia,  20. 
Robinson,  John    Beverly,  of    New 

York,  407. 
Robinson,  Mary  E.,  wife  of  R.  F. 

George,  559. 
Rockefeller,  William,  of  New  York, 

678. 
Rockwood,  photograph  of  G.  by,  603. 
Roel-Smith,  Carl,  bust  of  G.,  586. 
Rogers,    Prof.    J.    E.    Thorold,    on 

wages,  517. 
Rome,  visit  to,  539. 
Roosevelt,     Theodore,     mayoralty 

candidate  against  G.,  473-474,  480, 

481. 
RoyalExchange,London,  G's  speech 

before,  451-452. 
Royalties,  G's  book,  322,  333,  404-405, 

574. 
Ruskin,  John,  425. 
Russell,  L.  A.,  Hutchins  will  case, 

510. 
Ryan,  Thomas  P.,  G's  first  set  speech, 

268-269. 
Kylett,  Rev.  Harold,  of  Belfast,  389. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  454. 

Salvation  Array,  421 ;  traffic  in  girls, 
421 ;  G's  hopes  for,  539-540. 

San  Diego,  G's  visit  to,  68. 

Sarson,  George,  M.  A.,  of  London, 
404. 

Satolli,  Archbishop,  MoGlynn  case, 
660-561. 

"Saturday  Night,"  Philadelphia,  171. 

Saunders,  William,  President  Cen- 
tral News  Agency,  389 ;  "  The  Con- 
dition of  English  Agi-ieultural  La- 
bourers," 410 ;  offers  to  back  G.  for 
London  newspaper,  415 ;  Land  Re- 
form Union,  422 ;  "The  Democrat," 
449 ;  Royal  Exchange  meeting,  451 ; 
G.  his  guest  across  Atlantic,  513 ; 
G's  third  British  lecture  tour,  515; 
"Red  Van"  work,  579;  death,  587. 

Schaidner,  photograi>h  of  G.  by,  603. 

Schooling,  G's,  8,  8-9, 10. 

Schopenhauer,  Arthur,  G.  and  phi- 
losophy of,  547-548,  586. 

"Science  of  Political  Economy, 
The,"    See  Works. 

Scott,  Col.  John,  of  Oakland,  208. 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfleld,  97. 

Scott,  Prof.  David  B.,  of  New  York, 
465,  484. 


Scott,  W.  B.,  "Standard  "  staff,  485. 

Scribner's,  Charles,  Sons,  Publish- 
ers, of  New  York,  316. 

"  Scribner's  Magazine,"  349. 

Sea,  G's  early  love  for  the,  12-18;  first 
voyage,  19-39 ;  second  voyage,  50 ; 
third  voyage,  53-68 ;  fourth  voy- 
age, 77;  final  parting  from,  32,  94- 
95 ;  G's  journal  at,  23-32,  34-35,  37- 
39. 

Secretiveness,  G's  habit  of,  275. 

Secretary  of  State,  New  York,  G's 
campaign  for  office  of,  488-503. 

Secretary  of  State,  United  States, 
arrests  in  Ireland,  395. 

See  &  Eppler,  photograph  of  G.  by, 
602. 

Seighortner's  restaurant,  New  York, 
463. 

Senate,  California,  G.  for  the,  288. 

Senate,  United  States,  and  G.,  352n. 

Sexton,  Thomas,  M.  P.,  383. 

Shahan,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  J.,  Mc- 
Glynn  case,  560-561. 

Shakespeare,  G's  liking  for,  99;  in- 
cident connected  with,  100 ;  reflec- 
tions as  to,  649,  551. 

Sharp,  John,  and  advice,  79. 

Shaw,  Col.  Robert  Gould,  of  Massar 
chusetts,  353  ;  son  of 

Shaw,  Francis  G.,  biographical 
notes,  353 ;  circulates  G's  books, 
353,  381,  390-391;  author  of  "A 
Piece  of  Land,"  391,393,  410;  death 
of,  403;  "Social  Problems"  dedi- 
cated to,  403,  410 ;  bequest  to  G., 
407;  Lewis  gets  "Progress  and 
Poverty"  from,  471.    (See  Letters.) 

Shearman,  Thomas  G.,  G's  hrst  lec- 
ture in  Brooklyn,  350;  close  to 
Beecher,  350;  Delmonico's  ban- 
quet, 400;  the  word  "confisca- 
tion," 353,  423/t;  suggests  term 
"single  tax,"  496J^;  politics  and 
Anti-Poverty  Society,  505-506;  be- 
fore Ohio  legislative  committee, 
515 ;  "  Protection  or  Free  Trade  i " 
574  ;  William  J.  Bryan,  582. 

Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  656. 
Shevitch,  Sergius  E,,  of  New  York, 
499. 

Shipping,  American,  2-3,  30/(-31n. 

Ship's  steward,  G.  as,  on  Shubrick, 
60-52. 

Shoes,  exchange  of  G's  papers  for, 

440-441. 

Shot,  G's  danger  of  being,  241-242, 
243-244. 

Short,  Dr.,  of  San  Francisco,  270. 

Shubrick,  U.  S.  lighthouse  tender, 
in  wliich  G.  went  to  California,  50- 
62,  53-68,  71-72,  74,  252 ;  ship's  stew- 
ard on,  50-52. 

"Shore  Acres,"  play  by  James  A. 
Heme,  550. 

"Sic  Semper  Tyrannis."  See 
Works. 


630 


INDEX 


Simeoni,  Cardinal,  McGlyiin  case, 
383,  386,  486-487,  489,  490^91,  493-495. 

Simon,  G.,  English  author  of  "The 
Chinese  City,"  519. 

Simoucls,  Mrs.,  124 ;  wife  of 

Simonds,  Rev.  S.  D.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 104,  124-125,  155. 

Simplicity,  G'S,  412-417,  425-426,  542, 
543-546,  547,  549-552,  553-556. 

Simpson,  Hon.  Jei'ry,  of  Kansas,  572. 

Sinai,  G.  sees,  539. 

Sincerity,  G's,  425-426,  467-470,  478, 
479-480,  594,  596,  598,  603,  605,  60a- 
609,  610-611. 

Singer,  Ignatius,  joint  author  of 
"  The  Story  of  my  Dictatorship," 
533. 

Single  Tax,  explanation  of,  229,  468- 
469,  514-515 ;  based  on  feudal  sys- 
tem, 225;  and  effect,  226-227;  elu- 
cidated in  "The  Science  of  Politi- 
cal Economy,"  564;  first  use  of 
term,  495-496 ;  G.  on  the  term,  496>i; 
and  line  ot  least  resistance  to,  579; 
application  to  Ireland,  347;  and 
the  world,  348 ;  first  national  con- 
ference in  the  United  States,  540- 
541 ;  Chicago  1893  Conference, 
496 H  ;  policy  first  tried  in  South 
Australia,  .533 ;  first  appearance  in 
Congress,  579 ;  progress  of  the  idea, 
513-514,  515-516,  575,  578-580;  de- 
nounced as  against  Catholic  doc- 
trine, 485-486,  487  ;  McGlvnn's  de- 
fence, 486,  491 ;  and  G'.s,  487  ;  Papal 
encyclical  against,  565;  G's  an- 
swer, 565-568;  "free  doctrine," 
565*(-566>t. ;  Pope's  changed  view 
ot,  566/; ;  formally  declared  not  to 
be  contrary  to  Catholic  doctrine, 
561-562. 

Sisters  of  Charity,  107, 123. 

Skye,  crofter  agitation  in,  431-432, 
450-451;  G.  lectures  in,  433,  450; 
his  suggestions  for  immediate  re- 
lief, 451. 

Slavery,  chattel,  43-44,  61-62,  97-98, 
107-108,  111,  141,  191. 

Slavery,  industrial,  what  nerved  G. 
against,  191-193;  way  to  abolish, 
468-470. 

Sleep,  G.  and,  303. 

Smith,  Adam,  In,  lOn,  86,  228,  276, 
368,  411-412,  564-565,  .591,  593. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  340-341. 

Smith,  John  (;.,  i)artner  in  "Even- 
ing Journal,"  109,  120,  150, 151, 152. 

Smith,  Samuel,  M.  P.,  lectures 
against  G.,428;  G's  debate  with, 518. 

Smoking,  G.  and,  203,  555. 

Social  forms,  G's  dislike  of,  254-255, 
553-554. 

Socialism,  G.  against,  397-398,  498. 

Socialists,  G's  friction  witli,  422-423, 
496-498,  499,500-501;  ArTiold  'J'oyn- 
bee  and,  419«  ;  "  Letter  to  Pope  Leo 
XIII "and,  567. 


"  Social  Problems."    See  Works. 

"  Social  Statics,"  315,  369-370,  420. 

South  Carolina,  State  of,  secession, 
107-108. 

Speaking,  G's  early,  168-170,  266-269, 
270-271,  294-298,  336-337,  351-352,  361- 
362;  his  two  styles,  426,  429-430, 
443-444 ;  stage  fright  in,  295  ;  Brit- 
ish press.  427, 428-429, 430, 450 ;  Cali- 
fornia press,  524,  525-527;  Austra- 
lian press  on  G's  powers  of,  529- 
530,  530-531,  531-532, 535-536, 537-538. 

Spelling,  early  weakness  in  G.,  20, 
24 ;  sets  type  to  correct  it.  42. 

Spence,  Thomas,  368,  369,  520. 

Spencer,  Earl,  Irish  Viceroy,  373. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  G.  quotes  "  Social 
Statics,"  315;  and  sends  "Progress 
and  Poverty"  to,  323;  G's  early 
opposition  to  materialistic  philos- 
ophy of,  328;  G's  meeting  with, 
369-370;  G's  letters  to  Dr.  Taylor 
on,  370.  420/t ;  recantation  of  land 
principles,  420,  568;  G's  "  Per- 
plexed Philosopher,"569-571;  Dove, 
Ogilvie,  and,  520. 

Sphinx,  116,  204,  209. 

Spicer,  Albert,  of  London,  514,  516. 

Spirit,  G's  conception  of  its  relation 
to  the  body,  545 ;  its  immortality, 
546-547. 

Spiritualism,  G's  views  of,  329. 

Sprague,  W.  S.,  Senator,  186. 

"  Standard,  The,"  of  Australia,  531- 
532. 

"  standard,"  of  London,  426. 

"  Standard,"  of  3S"e w  York,  edited  by- 
John  Russell  Young,  212. 

"Standard,  The,  "started by G., 484; 
stafl",  484-485;  first  number,  485; 
McGlynn  case,  485-489,  493-494; 
Anti-Poverty  Society  started  in 
office  of,  491;  term  "single-tax" 
first  used  in,  496« ;  supports 
Cleveland  for  second  term,  505- 
606, 511 ;  business  affairs  of,  507-508 ; 
office  removed,  509 ;  dissensions  in 
staff,  519-520;  G's  reply  to  charge 
of  plagiarism,  520 ;  G's  worry 
about,  541 ;  and  retirement  from, 
.563 :  death  of,  574-575.   (See  Works.) 

Stanford,  Leland,  of  CaUfornia,  141- 
142,  211,  290,  349. 

Stanley,  Dean,  324. 

Stanley,  Hon.  E.  Lyluph,  454. 

Stanley,  "  Jim,"  of  the  S?iubrick,  58, 
118. 

"Star,"  of  San  Francisco,  507«. 

"  Star,  The,"  of  London,  513. 

"  State,  The,"  started  by  G.,  316;  and 
brief  history  of,  316-317. 

Steers,  A.  J.,  gives  "  Progress  and 
Poverty- "  to  McGlynn,  402,  407  ;  in 
Free  Soil  Society,  406.  (See  Let- 
ters.) 

Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  .585. 

"  St.  George,"  in  Congress,  573. 


INDEX 


631 


Stickney,  A.  A.,  of  Sacramento,  151, 
153, 160,  168. 

"St.  James's  Gazette,"  of  London, 
420>i,  482. 

Stoflel,  Jan,  Holland,  519. 

Stone,  Hon.  William  ^T.,  of  Kentucky, 
572. 

Stone,  Mrs.,  of  San  Francisco,  152. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beeclier,  and  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin,"  43. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  of  Philadelphia, 
5-7. 

"  Strength  of  Nations,  The,"  by  An- 
drew Bisset,  225,  228,  521. 

Strong,  Col.,  of  San  Francisco,  152. 

Strowbridge,  Jerome,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 70-71. 

Strowbridge,  W.  C,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 70-71. 

St.  Thomas,  West  Indies,  visit  to, 
57-59. 

Stuart,  James,  M.  P.,  taxation  reso- 
lution, 578. 

Subsidies,  Q.  against,  210-211,  214- 
218. 

Suez,  Gulf  of,  G.  travels  through, 
539. 

Suicide,  G's  thoughts  on,  349,  547. 

Sullivan,  Hon.  Algernon  S.,  of  New 
York,  400. 

Sullivan,  A.  M.,  M.  P.,  324,  375. 

Sullivan,  J.  W.,  of  New  York,  485, 
520-521. 

Sullivan,  T.  D.,  M.  P.,  398. 

Sumner,  Charles  A.,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 181-182,  206. 

Sumner,  Professor  W.  G.,  349,  408. 

"Sun,"  of  New  York,  217-248,  333, 
344,  409,  474,  482. 

Sunrise,  case  of,  241. 

Superstition,  absence  of,  in  G.,  67m. 

Swan,  Sonnenschein  &  Co.,  London, 
publish  G's  "  Letter  to  the  Pope," 
567. 

Swett,  John,  of  San  Francisco,  293, 
307,  320. 

Swinburne,  A.  C.,  549. 

Swlnton,  John,  of  New  York,  209, 
335,  342.    (See  Letters.) 

Swin ton, Prof.  William, 208-209, 281«, 
315-316,  335-336,  411-412,  456. 

"Syllabus  of  an  estimate  of  the 
merits  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus," 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  548. 

Symes,  Prof.  J.  E.,  422,  513. 

Sympathy,  in  G's  character,  27«, 
306-307. 

Synthetic  philosophy,  G's  position 
on  the,  669-570. 

Tammauv  Hall,  its  rule  in  New 
York,  462-463  ;  the  1886  mayoralty 
campaign,  472  ;  intimacy  with 
Catholic  hierarchy,  506;  the  1897 
mavdralty  campaign,  598,  601. 

Tariff  (juestlon,  G.  and  the,  336-3.38, 
407,  408,  410-411, 449, 476,  504-506, 511- 


513,    515,   533-536,  537,  571,  576,  580, 
583. 

Tarpy,  Matthew,  case  of,  242-243,  244. 

Taxation,  feudal  system  of,  225-226; 
how  present  system  operates,  267  ; 
English  four  shilling,  428»i.  (See 
Single  Tax  and  Works.) 

Taylor,  Edward  R.,  Secretary  Gov- 
ernor Haight,  214,  292  ;  "  Progi'ess 
and  Poverty,"  292-293,  297-298,  307- 
309,  319>i,  320 ;  on  G's  marriage  tie, 
305;  "The  State,"  316;  welcomes 
G.  back  to  California,  524.  (See 
Letters.) 

Taylor,  Helen,  of  London,  360-361, 
365,  367-368,  422,  428>i,  450,  452.  (See 
Letters.) 

Telegraph,  news  by,  in  California, 
109-110;  transcontinental  line, 
120;  G's  tight  against  monopoly, 
183-186,  204,  206,  211-213. 

"Telegraph,  Daily,"  of  Sydney,  529- 
531,  537  538. 

"  Telegraph,"  Melbourne,  535-536. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  253,  369,  549,  586. 

Terra  del  Fuegians,  68. 

TeiTy,  David  S.,  of  California,  97-98. 

Theatre,  American,  its  drop  curtain, 
100. 

Theatre,  Ford's,  and  Lincoln's  assas- 
sination, 160. 

Theatricals,  G's  taste  for,  99,  255, 
449-450. 

Themistocles,  219. 

"Theory  of  Human  Progression, 
The,"  by  P.  E.  Dove,  520. 

Thinking,  G's  habits  of,  13,  34,  42-44, 
80,  91,  209-210,  251,  303,  325,  543-544. 

Thomas,  George  C,  of  Philadel- 
phia, 7. 

Thomas,  Rev.  Richard  N.,  of  Phila- 
delphia, 7. 

Thomson,  H.  W.,  of  San  Francisco, 
238-239. 

Thor,  G's  pet  dog,  546. 

Thorn,  William  S.,  New  York,  464. 

Thurber,  Francis  B.,  of  New  York, 
400. 

Thurman,  Hon.  Allen  G.,  of  Ohio, 
511. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  of  New  York,  G. 
supports,  for  presidency,  266-272, 
505  ;  G's  later  estimate  of,  272-273. 

"Time,"    essay   on    use    of.      See 

Works. 
"  Times,  New  Y'ork,"  483. 

"Times,"  of  Loudon,  391-392,  394, 
396-397,  444. 

"Times,"  of  San  Francisco,  G's  con- 
nection with,  171,  173-176,  180,  208. 
(See  Works.) 

Timmins,  John,  of  Sacramento,  142- 

143,  180. 
Tolstoi,  Count  Leon,  514. 
Tonbeau,  M.  A.,  of  Paris,  519. 
Torrens,  W.  MeCullogh,  454. 
Toynbee,  Arnold,  of  Oxford,  419. 


632 


INDEX 


Tracy,  Gen.  Benjamin  F.,  598. 
Tracy,  Hon.  Charles,  of  New  York, 

579. 
Trade-unions,  G's  sympatliy  with, 

105,  460. 
Transatlantic  cahle,  the  tirst,  79. 
"  Transcript,"  of  Oakland,  G.  editor 

of,  197,  200,  201,  208,  209,  211. 
"  Transcript,  The  Boston,"  331. 
Translations  of  G's  books,  French, 

519m  ;  German,  330;  Italian,  567; 

general  notes,  571,  592. 
Treadwell,  N.  S.,  of  San  Francisco, 

174, 175. 
"Treaty  of  Kilmainham,"  371-372. 
Trenwith,  W.  M.  P.,  of  Melbourne, 

536. 
Trevelyan,  Kt.  Hon.  George  O.,  389, 

394. 
"  Tribune,  New  York,"  182,  186-187, 

193-203,  230,  486. 
"Tribune,"  of  Chicago,  201. 
Trump,  Isaac,  of  San  Francisco,  124, 

125,  138-141,  143, 145-147, 149-150,  151, 

152,  161. 
"  Truth,"  of  New  York,  355-356. 
Tubbs,  Hiram,  of  Oakland,  208. 
Turkish  bath,  anecdote  of  G.  in  a, 

438-439. 
TurrcU,  O.  B.,  In  San  Francisco,  174- 

175. 
Type-setting.    (See  Printing.) 
Type-writing  machine,  G's  use  of, 

644. 
Typographical  Union,  Eureka,  G. 

joins,  105. 

"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  effect  on  G., 
43 ;  parallel,  317. 

Unione  Tipograflco-Editrice,  Italian 
publishers  of  G's  works,  567. 

"Union,"  of  Sacramento,  G.  com- 
positor on,  126,  130,  132,  135,  137, 
142-143,  180. 

Union  Sqiiare  Hotel,  G's  political 
headquarters,  601 ;  where  G.  died, 
606,  607. 

"  United  Ireland,"  G.  helps  it,  d64r- 
365. 

United  Labour  Party  of  New  York, 
its  organisation,  459-481 ;  the  1887 
campaign,  496-503;  G'sbreak  with, 
505-50G ;  national  politics,  512 ;  Re- 
publican recoKnition,  512-513. 

United  States  Book  Company,  New 
York,  publishes  G's  "  Letter  to  the 
Pope,"  567. 

Urner,  BeAJamin,  treasurer  Anti- 
Poverty  Society,  492. 

Valdivia,  G.  touches  at,  68. 

Vallance,  John,  G's  maternal  grand- 
father, 1,  4. 

Vallance,  Mary,  G's  aunt.  4,  21, 130. 

Valparaiso,  G.  touches  at,  68. 

Van  Brunt,  Justice,  of  New  York, 
400. 


Van  Dusen,  A.,  of  New  York,  im- 
mortality, 546-547. 

Van  Dusen,  Joseph,  G's  imcle,  16, 
20,  43,  79. 

Van  Wyck,  Judge  Robert,  Greater 
New  York  mayoralty,  596. 

Venice,  G.  visits,  539. 

Victoria,  Australia,  G's  first  visit,  18, 
19,  29-32;  second  visit,  533-536; 
"  Progress  and  Poverty  "  in,  397. 

Victoria,  B.  C,  G's  life  there,  75-83, 84. 

Victoria,  Queen,  G's  alleged  disre- 
spect to, 426-427. 

"  Volks-Zeitung,"  of  New  York,  474. 

Von  Giitschow,  C.  D.  F.,  translates 
"  Progress  and  Poverty  "  into  Ger- 
man, 330,  480. 

Vossion,  Louis,  French  translator 
of  "Protection  or  Free  Trade?" 
519n. 

Wages,  in  California,  74>i-75h.  80,  Si, 
95, 100 ;  G.  on  real  law  of,  196-197, 
230-231 ;  ciu'rent  political  economy 
on,  196,230;  G's  fljst  puzzling  ques- 
tion about,  43. 

Waite  &  Battles,  of  San  Francisco, 
88-89. 

Wakefield     ,     vice-presidential 

candidate,  512. 

Wales,  Prince  of,  454. 

Walker,  Prof.  Francis  A.,  census  re- 
ports, 409-410. 

Walker,  Thomas  F.,  G's  first  ac- 
quaintance with,  389;  G.  visits, 
422;  Land  Reform  Union,  422;  St. 
James's  Hall  lecture,  425 ;  Taylor 
lecture  anecdote,  428h;  G's  third 
British  lecture  trip,  515 ;  circulates 
"  Protection  or  Free  Trade  ?  "  574  ; 
propaganda  work,  579.  (See  Let- 
ters.) 

Walker,  Gen.  William,  of  Tennessee, 
62. 

Wall,  Mary  Ann.  (See  McCloskey, 
Mary  Ann.) 

Wallace,  ALfiod  Russell,  353-354, 382, 
397—398. 

Wallazz,  Edmund,  of  Philadelphia, 
42,  63,  73-74,  87,  150,  151,  171. 

Walton,  Charles,  of  Philadelphia,  13, 
14,  49,  62,  73,  131-132. 

Walton,  ColUs,  brother  of  Charles, 
13,  20,  60. 

Wai-nor,  Hon.  John  De  Witt,  of  New 
York,  579. 

Washington,  Hon.  Joseph  H.,  of 
Tennessee,  572. 

Washoe  discoveries,  100-101, 102. 

Way,  Clilef  Justice,  of  South  Aus- 
tralia, 533. 

Wealth,  G's  dream  of,  156-157;  de- 
parture of  dream.  255 ;  concenti-a- 
tion,  279,  284-285,  468-469 ;  contrast 
with  poverty,  191-193,  219;  deep- 
ening poverty  with  advancing, 
210,  222-227,  469^70. 


INDEX 


633 


"  Wealth  of  Nations,"  G.  first  sees 
the,  86;  intention  to  abridge  and 
annotate,  411^12;  political  econ- 
omy and,  276,  368,  564-565. 

Webb,  Alfred,  of  Dublin,  363,  364. 

Webb,  Charles  Henry,  editor  "  Cali- 
fornian,"  160. 

Wells,  David  A.,  of  New  York,  225, 

234,  341. 

Wells,  Fargo  Express,  182,  186, 192, 
206. 

Welsh  miners,  G.  among,  516-517. 

Werner,  Alice,  of  London,  549. 

"  What  Cheer  House,"  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 84,  85,  89,  90. 

"  What  the  Railroad  Will  Bring  Us." 
See  Works. 

White,  Horace,  of  Chicago,  201,  234. 

Whitney,  William  C,  of  New  York, 
578. 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf,  549. 

"  Why  Work  is  Scarce,  Wages  Low 
and  Labour  Restless."  See 
Works. 

Wicksteed,  Rev.  Phillip  A.,  of  Lon- 
don, 422. 

Widows,  G.  on  annuities  to,  426-427. 

Wilbur,  George  B.,  of  San  Francisco, 
70,  81-82,  89,  105,  154,  294. 

Will,  G's,  589. 

Williams,  Rev.  C.  Fleming,  of  Lon- 
don, 451. 

Wilmarth,  Prof.  L.  E.,  of  New  York, 
407. 

Wilson,  Hon.  William  L.,  of  West 
Virginia,  576. 

Wingate,  Charles  F.,  of  New  York, 
465. 

Women,  social  inflaence  of,  86-87. 

Woodhull,  John  T.,  of  Camden,  N.  J., 
510. 

Woodward,  R.  B.,  of  San  Francisco, 
84. 

Work,  G's  method  of.  See  Writing. 

Works,  G's : 
Books : 

"Our  Land  and  Land  Policy" 
(1871),  nature  and  history  of,  220- 

235,  236,   237,   239,  263,  272,  274,  282, 
521. 

"Progress  and  Poverty"  (1879), 
nature  and  history  of,  74«-75n, 
llOn,  134,  179-180,  214,  233-234,  281, 
282-283,  289-334,  335,  337-338,  340- 
343,  348,  349,  353-357,  366-369,  380-382, 
389-391,  396-397,  399,  402,  404-406,  414- 
415,  419-424,  427,  430,  436,  445-448,  457, 
464,  471-472,  480,  496h,  519h,  520-521, 
622,  538-539,  559,  563,  564, 567,  5G8,  570, 
579-580,  589-593,  611. 

"The  (Irish)  Land  Question" 
(1881),  nature  and  history  of,  212- 
213,  326,  345-348,  381-382,  390-391, 
396.  405. 

"  Social  Problems  "  (1883),  nature 
and  history  of,  403, 408-410, 411,  427, 
457,  508. 


"Protection  or  Free  Trade?" 
(1885),  nature  and  history  of,  168- 
169,  272-273,  447-448,  456,  458,  459, 
498,  505,  519m,  571-576. 

"The     Condition    of    Labour"     . 
(1891), nature  and  history  of,  565-    \^ 
568.  "^ 

"  A  Perplexed  Philosopher " 
(1892),  nature  and  history  of,  568- 
571. 

"  The  Science  of  Political  Econ- 
omy" (posthumous  publication), 
nature  and  history  of,  14oji,  193, 
197,  228-229,  230,  234-235,  245m,  310- 
311,  324-325,  471,  563-565,  569,  571, 
679-580,  685,  589-593,  602. 
Magazine  articles : 

"A  Plea  for  the  Supernatural," 
159;  "Bribery  in  Elections,"  235, 
404;  "Common  Sense  in  Taxa- 
tion," 349;  "England  and  Ire- 
land," 455;  "How  Jack  Breeze 
Missed  being  a  Pasha,"  235 ;  "  La- 
bour in  Pennsylvania,"  456,  459; 
"Land  and  Taxation," 455;  "  Mon- 
ey in  Elections,"  404,  529-530; 
"  More  about  American  Landlord- 
ism," 455;  "Over-production  ,"415; 
"  The  Kearney  Asiiitation  in  Cali- 
fornia," 331 ;  "  The  Prayer  of  Ko- 
honah,"  171;  "The  Reduction  to 
Iniquity"  (reply  to  Argyll),  444- 
445 ;  "The  Study  of  PoUtical  Econ- 
omy," 331;  "The  Taxation  of  Land 
Values,"  349 ;  "  What  the  Railroad 
wm  Bring  Us,"  176-180,  196,  230- 
231. 
Newspaper  articles : 

"  Abraham  Lincoln,"  164-165 ; 
"  Democrat,"  article,  449 ;  "  Dust 
to  Dust,"  63-67, 171 ;  "  Irish  World," 
359-360,  373-374,  392-394;  "Personal 
Journalism,"  264-265;  "New  York 
Joui'ual," articles, 581 ;  "Problems  ,  ^■ 
of  the  Time,"  408-409;  San  Fran-  L— "^ 
Cisco  "Post,"  editorials,  238,  239, 
240,  241, 242-245,  246;  San  Francisco 
"Times,"  editorials,  167, 176  ;  "  Sic 
Semper  Tyranuis,"  161-164 ;  "  The 
Chinese  on  the  Pacific  Coast,"  193- 
203,  274;  "The  Standard,"  signed 
articles,  215m,  227-228,  485-490,  492. 
493-494,  497,  498,  501>l-502M,  504,  513, 
515,  520-521,  528,  529,  536,  574-575, 
578,  579-580. 
Miscellaneous  writings : 

"  Chinese  Immigration"  (Lalor's 
Cyclopedia),  202,  348;  communica- 
tions to  newspapers,  159,  171  ; 
"East  and  All,"  298;  essay  on 
"The  Profitable  Employment  of 
Time,"  156-158 ;  phrenological 
chart,  53-55 ;  political  platforms, 
464,  483,  498;  Scottish  Land  Res- 
toration League  Proclamation, 
434;  "V.'ho  Shall  Be  President?" 
271-272. 


634 


INDEX 


Diary  notes : 

14-iY,  23-32,  34-35,  37-39,48-49,  146- 
147,  149-153,  154-155,  289,  418,  542. 
Lectures  and  speeches : 

First  set  speecli,  266-269 ;  before 
California  University,  274-281 ; 
"  The  American  Republic,"  274, 
282-288  ;  "  Why  Work  is  Scarce, 
Wages  Low  and  Labour  Restless," 
203,  294-297 ;  "  Moees,"  297-298,  331- 
332,  432-433,  443  ;  first  British  tour, 
419-441 ;  second  British  tour,  450- 
452;  third  British  tour,  513-519; 
toeloreEpiscopal  Church  Congress, 
448^49;  "The  Single  Tax,"  289w, 
496>i ;  first  mayoralty  campaign, 

6-470,  478-479,  481,  483-484;  first 
Anti-Poverty  speech,  493;  Secre- 
tary of  State  campaign.  499,  503 ; 
"  Thy  Kingdom  Come,"  518  ;  "Jus- 
tice the  Object — Taxation  the 
Means,"  525-527  ;  Australian  tour, 
529-538 ;  Croasdale  funeral,  547 ; 
"Peace  by  Standing  Army," 577; 
last  campaign,  599-601,  604-607 ; 
other  addresses,  169-170,  216-217, 
269-270,  299,  331,336-338,341,  350,351- 
352,  361-362,  378,  383,  389,  398-399,  400- 
401,  403,  495-496,  511,  515,  523-525,  540- 
541. 

World,  Irish,"  354,  355,  362-363,  364, 
371,  373-375,  380,  386,  387,  388,  392-394, 
407,  449,  479,  492,  500. 


"  World,  New  York,"  464,  499. 

"  W^orld  of  Will  and  Idea,"  G's  views 
on,  547-548. 

Wren,  Walter,  of  London,  370-371, 
413. 

Wrist,  G's  broken,  251, 

Writing,  G's  habits  in,  246-247,  251, 
303-305,  318-319,  424-425,  445;  style, 
155,  176,  262-263,  318-319;  G's  pri- 
mary rules  for,  356 ;  an  author's 
appreciation,  551. 


Youmans,  Prof.  E.  L.,  friendliness 
to  G.,  335,  340-344. 

Young,  John  Russell,  managing 
editor  "Tribune,"  186-187  ;  invited 
G's  Chinese  article,  193;  praised 
G.  to  Greeley,  207 ;  Associated 
Press  war,  213;  with  General 
Grant,  317  ;  distributes  "  Progress 
and  Poverty"  abroad,  324;  G's 
poverty,  326-327,  329-330 ;  G's  ear- 
nestness, 329-330 ;  helps  G.  go  east, 
334 ;  "  New  York  Herald,"  335  ; 
death  of  wife,  343  ;  G.  in  Now  York, 
344-345  ;  letter  to  Lowell,  396 ;  sug- 
gests name  for  G's  paper,  484 ;  G's 
illness,  542  ;  dinners  given  by,  556. 
(See  Letters.) 

Young,  Sallie,  of  Philadelphia,  48. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
of  San  Francisco,  525. 


f 


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